@richreeve , thanks for your post. Something big that you might me missing is the fact that upvote bots allow anybody to make some ROI on their posts. It's quite possible to consistently make 15% or more gains using upvote bots. So even if someone is from a "poor country", they can gain a little bit of profit by using vote bots correctly (which might take some time to figure out). It takes 7 days for the post payouts and then they can reinvest for their next content. This is a great long term strategy to build up Steem Power and wealth on Steem. I see a future where Steem is worth $100+ so this is a great opportunity for all people.
Another point is that if we only have the elite Rich and everybody else is Poor on the platform, things are very out of balance. Having a "middle class" can be of a benefit. 200 SBD to promote a post, hit the trending page and get your money back in a week isn't that out of reach for a large number of users . I think there is a greater likelihood that this emerging "middle-class" would be supportive of people in poorer countries. I haven't seen many posts about philanthropical whales here on Steemit (yet)..