Interesting analysis, as always.
I think there's no question that there's uneven distribution and it honestly feels like every attempt to correct this makes matters worse. Linear rewards and delegation have let to the age of bots and community cliques, etc. It feels like it's less about content and more about popularity and social ties.
I've seen lots of blogs and thought: 'why in the world is this person only getting a dollar a party?' Sadly, I often go back a few months and find that they weregetting paid fairly until recently. So what's changed? How have things managed to get worse? This is the frustration many non-SP non-community-founding minnows have.
A better question is how in the world do we fix it? Often it feels like the things people in the community ask for are wishes on a monkey's paw.
I suppose the only way forward is through experimentation. Honestly, this sort of situation was probably inevitable. Especially in a distributed community with no central authority and actual money in the line.
In fact, despite the bleak picture I might have painted, the unfortunate truth is probably that Steemit isn't doing that bad. And unfortunately, if worst comes to worst, you don't have to give to the Steem or quit, you can just consider making your own app on the Steem blockchain...
I have to agree with you Steemit is not doing that bad at all. I also wonder, when I become a whale, from working my ass off, will people turn on me for not doing enough. If I continue to vote for the people I vote for now, will that been seen as a circle jerk because we have worked our way up and continue to support each other?