RE: What is the Fundamental Problem with STEEM?
I think Steem under 500 Satoshis is unavoidable at this point. Whether that's 3c by the time it happens I don't know.
Bloggers need to understand that they'll be better off in a smaller ecosystem which contains only bloggers and people who want to read blogs. The key is not really new users in general, it's people who want to read things and upvote them for extrinsic reasons. (Because they liked it, or because they want to reward the author.) The more people Steem attracts because they want to get a return, the more it dilutes that population, and the less functional the blogging ecosystem becomes.
This is why I'm 100% against the EIP - it's all about trying to get more people to vote for return, and in the process making sure the organic users we already have (who don't have large stakes) get fewer rewards (and never get to have large stakes).
I'm listening to msp-waves right now where vadenburg is talking about how people below the superlinear-linear transition will earn a little less and those above will earn a little more.
The transition point is somewhere around 16 STEEM worth of rewards.
One of these days I will sign up to the STEEM SQL service so I can do quick research, but my guess is the VAST majority of accounts earn far less than that.
Regardless, the HF looks like it is pretty much a done deal, so we will see how it shakes out.