I agree with Problem 1 - not so much with Problem 2!
Problem 1 however will (imho) regulate itself, there will always be waves of shitposts... but eventually the reward pool will favor quality content and curation through social interactions.
The bigger problem here is probably the voting weight distribution in the benefits of whales and the abuse of self-upvoting as a means to generate income.
Problem 2 is not a problem to me. The value of steem comes from it's power to buy a loud voice on this platform. That alone is enough to give it plenty of value. A loud voice on the internet is capital these days!