I can't blame you for your rant when all of it is truthful. I get the feeling no one is working on problems or developing the platform or for that matter moving it out of beta... I think somehow all the effort is being put into SMT. Will SMT save steemit? I have my doubts.
The issue with a completely decentralized application like this is that human nature will win out. Abusers will abuse. Lazy and greedy people will find ways to put forth the least amount of effort to get the greatest possible gain. People will cry it's not fair that someone is earning a lot, so I'll find ways to make sure they can't buy using the one tool provided to punish bad behavior: down flagging. It's quite ironic they are actually the ones wanted to or effectively raping the reward pool.
An steemit survive another year? Hard to say. It has some momentum. But like I wrote recently, why would I spend my time writing the quality posts I'd like to write when no one sees my posts. All I can do is try to build my following one quality comment after another until it's large enough to see my posts. Even then, if no one reads them, takes the time to comment or like 98% of the people, not bother to even upvote comments or posts....
Resteemed, because everyone should be interested in your rant and it's reality check.