Well, I had to break out the dictionary because you said I'm confusing profiteering with investment. According to merriam-webster.com.

investment = the outlay of money usually for income or profit

profiteering = the act or activity of making an unreasonable profit on the sale of essential goods especially during times of emergency

The investment in the steem is the outlay of the money for profit. Whether or not these profits are unreasonable I don't really know? They might look unreasonable to small stake holders. But the more SP or money you have the greater the potential to earn with it, even if it's with curation alone. Just look at millionaires today, they put money in the bank and can skim off the interest at the end of the year and live off of that. I mean that's how the system is designed. Steem is similar, the more steem you have the more you can draw from the pool. I'm not saying it's right or good or bad, but that's how they made it. Just imagine if they called the APY at the bank a reward pool and all bank customers got to see who got the most rewards? They'd get angry at the wealthy for taking all the rewards. The bank might change the rules to spread it out equally and then the wealthy would simply close their accounts and find a more lucrative place to put their capital.