Sadly I'm beginning to see it this way too. HF21 so far has cut upvote value in half, which should have been a 15% cut at best if you're going from 75% to 65% of inflation going to the reward pool. There is now a movement underway down voting anyone that asks sensitive questions or voices legitimate concerns about HF21 discrepancies. It's foolish behavior that undermines confidence in the whole ecosystem, and it suggests that steemit inc is insolvent if they can't even be transparent about where the reward pool is actually going.