I like Rob's answer, and it corrects some of my errors. I added a little blob in the steemit threads, but you know my bias is being in support of it. I think I understand that your main concern is that there was not a big, public discussion about the rate change.

In the last 4 months and a few hundred hours syncing my own brain on GRC, it seemed a perfectly rational decision. I do not know if Rob, Phil, and the other early whales/founders had side discussions, but I know the dev community earns that pay. (It's not full-time pay, and they under-bill a lot.)

It's just my perspective from a consulting background, and the last 4 months. I have no authority with GRC, and am a very long way off from being able to do work that would be considered for compensation.