I've begun the process of powering down because of exactly this. I came on here just in time to see the last glimmer of what Steemit COULD become, and I was sold on it. I bought in, not just with my earnings from my crypto investments, but also with my own disposable income, to try to give myself a TINY voice in the Steem world, and to gain a little bit of traction.
Not very long after I started investing though, the cracks in the system began to show. The constant whale wars, flag wars, and the onslaught of voting/bidding bots, and the lack of interest in fixing these problems by the leadership has proven to me that Steemit is a bad investment, doomed to failure by the same short-sighted greediness that has disenfranchised most of the political spheres in the U.S.
There are better investments out there. Which is unfortunate to say, because the idea behind Steem has a TON of potential, which is being wasted on a bunch of greedy nerds, asshats, and trolls.