May big guys keep voting each other, or keep flagging each other. If they would spend 5% of their voting power to upvote quality posts of the little guys, the situation for us minnows would be completely different.
There are exeptions of course. There are big guys who are being very supportive, but still, we minnows are stuck upvoting eachother, which results in 60 upvotes worth $1.50.
Selling and buying upvotes is not allowed in the SteemIt FAQ, but unfortunately Steemit Inc has abandonned the sinking ship...