Inflation is definitely sustainable where an active economy has been bootstrapped. But outside of BTC and ETH, that is simply not the case. Steem is far, far off, and like I said, the Dr. Evil pipe dream is dead.
I'd urge you to check out Basic Attention Token. It's not the traditional advertising with banner ads and pop ups that you're thinking of.
BAT is an offshoot of Brave, which is owned by a particular multinational (the entity that owns AXA, and much more, linked to Bilderberg) that I presently believe has nefarious intentions. The rhetoric about it is great, the corporate originators of that rhetoric are duplicitous IMHO. I do understand that advertising is more than banners and popups, but also that people innately resent - and more importantly, resist - psychological pressure, and all advertising is psychological pressure.
As the understanding of the market becomes more sophisticated under the incessant and increasing onslaught of that pressure, resistance is going to grow until it becomes a white hot sword of purification for some, while for all it will be resented and reviled as manipulative and contrary to honest representations.
As Orwell noted, when lies become politically necessary, the truth becomes revolutionary, and everyone needs must have some core of truth they can rely on. All we hear is more and more manipulation, and immersing Steem itself in that vile pot of swill will engender backlash.
I don't disagree with your financial considerations. I just don't think they matter in the long run. The social interaction between good folks will, and that is the golden goose that will lay Steeming eggs of capital gains.
I don't expect anyone to listen to me. At this point I only hope my rants eventually grow into understanding of what actual value is, what really matters to people, so that the essence of the voluntarist government Steem could have become is developed here, or elsewhere. Money itself is not valuable. Gold has no monetary value. Paper can be burned for heat, or pasted on walls as decoration, and gold has industrial uses, but money itself does not. It's able to be a shortcut to value, but it is defiled by financial manipulation and decentralization will eventually render it utterly obsolete.
In the meantime, it has been used to extract wealth - parasitizing actual human interaction - from social media on Steem, and that manipulation, inexorable and ubiquitous, has caused users to abandon Steem because they are angry and unwilling to be nothing more than cash cows exploited by substantial stake holders.
People, relationships, production of goods that people need, those things have value. Money has devalued those things on Steem, and that is the detour that has brought us to this impasse. It can be fixed, I think, still on Steem.
As I said, I am a hopeless romantic.