We need more steem circulating to build an economy, we need people to save it, and we need people to spend it, and we need people to accept it as a means of conducting commerce with one another and with outside interest.

That's all true. The key challenge is how to get there.

Right now we have a lot of Steem being used simply for the purpose of getting paid by the blockchain for doing very little, cashing it out, and getting more bitcoin or dollars. It is undermining the currency by causing it to resemble bolivars more than dollars: something that you get and then, unless you are foolish, you get rid of as quickly as possible. There isn't much circulating, and there isn't much saving, nor even spending, except to the point 'spending' (i.e. selling) it to buy dollars or bitcoin.

The idea of distributing Steem to users is not a bad one, and also isn't entirely original (cryptocurrencies have had faucets, airdrops, etc. for as long as there have been cryptocurrencies), but on Steem it is WAY too much of the focus. It needs to be massively de-emphasized. If we can't manage to establish focus on doing more than the rewards (and so far we only barely have), we're screwed.