So let's ask ourselfs a question: does it change ANYTHING at all if part of newly received STEEM would be burned or powered up? Not really
This is your opinion. Burning steem wont increase demand for it in the short term, but should demand actually increase as everyone hopes, there will be less supply to go around. Are there other better ways to burn up the supply by creating outside demand for it first? Sure there is. But what difference does it make to you, if I want to send 4% of my rewards to @null, or somebody else wants to create a burnpost? This seems like a pointless argument to make because it's a voluntary exercise, and at the end of the day, it still creates less supply. If you actually coupled that with people needing to purchase and burn steem to perform various operations such as promotion, it's even better.
Do companies buy back their own stock in order to increase the demand for it? No, they do so in order to decrease the supply. So that if there is demand for it in future, there is less available on the market, and you have more price appreciation. It's a long game not a short game.
Steem supply is already gigantic due to whales' sp and their potential power downs.
We have a trending tab. If they used it as the default tab instead of trending, people would use it. They don't do it. They don't care.
You know, I paid @smitop to develop TWO THINGS that could help with this. But no witness or steem app developer cares. (except for SBI's joesavage)