The issue is creating a demand for steem. That's what pays the bloggers at the end of the day. Steemit users are selling SD or Steem on the market to people who are buying. If you want to sustain or increase the price the demand for STEEM needs to increase.

The problem I see is that the incentives of this platform seem to be trying to trick people into depositing money, powering up and now promoting a post without really showing people how to SPEND or WITHDRAW. So once people get leeward in and then realize it's more difficult than they expected to get their money out they are left with a BAD taste in their mouth.

Personally I don't think powering down should take more than a week or two. Also the interest rate are absolutely ridiculous. Creating a legitimate and fair economic system will create a demand and incentivize users to BUY more STEEM which would allow the platform to reward new content creators. Many people are hesitant to power up now with the current economic set-up.

The Steemit platform is absolutely brilliant, rewarding content creators, why over complicate things with $SD, SteemPower, interest rates, inflation rates and locking up peoples funds....

Why not just pay people out Steem and let them do what they want with it... True freedom will bring true success.