I generally agree with your views, and I've been working to improve the situation for months by analyzing how SBD works and trying my best to explain that to other witnesses and to the community in as accurate and comprehensible manner as I possibly can. To be clear, there has been significant improvement, and many witnesses are doing a much better job now. It is not perfect, but we have come a good long way. I still have some doubts though.
I replied elsewhere to you on how the reasons have changed. I still think SBD has value, and its value probably outweighs its costs, but it isn't a completely clear cut question.
The more I learn about why SBD was added into the whitepaper, it was to mitigate the effects of hyperinflation of Steem at that time. Today, Hyperinflation is no longer an issue.
As far as making it easier for merchants to price things and do accounting, there are POS apps that do that anyway. A merchant can price things as they usually do and the app woud convert Steem at the price it is into their fiat currency. That's even simpler than having to price things in Steem or SBD.