I guess the witnesses would decide to change the payout structure if that happened though to keep it from becoming a money printing machine for spammers?
I heard an interview with one of them a while back where they were talking about using their collective power to try and peg SBD near the US $ and allowing STEEM to rise to attract investors. If it stagnates then it will only be attractive to users of the system and not investors? Can't say I understand much of it but that's sort of what I got from it!