If having stake in an investment vehicle is proportionate to ROI, you'd think that folks would undertake to increase the market for that investment vehicle and gain capital thereby. After all, capital gains is the one mechanism that has encouraged capital investment since before the invention of the wheel. It's a proven technology. It's how civilization came about. It's what people innately understand, respect, and want to do. They want to build things and leave a legacy for their posterity. They want to be admirable and make things better for their progeny than they received from their forefathers.

Tying ROI to self voting, or financially manipulating the rewards mechanism in the various ways that have eventuated, seems to not be working very well to grow the market for Steem. The ninjaminers stitched up some golden parachutes, but those will only fly if people buy Steem, which will not happen as long as profiteering discourages the market. There clearly are people that want to spend time self voting, but vanity is not amongst the most rewarded skills in investing. Listen to these words and consider their connotations: self voting. Vote buying. Profiteering. Market manipulation. The entire business model of the ninjaminers is contrary to every civilized societies' values.

Profiteering can be profitable for the profiteers, but everyone else in the market where they operate loses money when they make money. Companies are dissolved, and employees lose their jobs and pensions. Investing to create capital gains causes the reverse effects. Businesses become more valuable. Employees get raises. The investment vehicle rises in value. Compare Berkshire Hathaway as an example of that latter investment for capital gains model, and Bain Capital Partners, or Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, as examples of profiteers.

It's not a mystery why society is drawn to investing for capital gains, and rejects profiteering. It's good for society to build up, increase the value of, and grow markets. It's bad for society to pick the pockets of those that create value, prevent value from increasing, and favor brutal power over noble altruism. These aren't mere technicalities. They're the basis for civilization itself.

The ninjamine is obviously the result of the same mindset as vote selling, and who could have predicted Steem's current financial condition? Every investor for capital gains that has avoided Steem like virulent plague.

It is surely ideal for the ninjaminers for people to want to self vote and delegate to bid bots with stake they buy, because that is the wind that fills those golden parachutes. Fortunately, this is not the only token with a social media platform anymore, and if Steem doesn't become the vector for capital gains it should be, someone else will.

The bottom line is the market. Steem profiteering repels society, and this is not debatable, it's a demonstrable fact. Grow the market, or shrink Steem. End profiteering, or end Steem. It's really that simple now.