I like your way of thinking! Actually you're right: when I power up, I'm also improving my position on the platform through monetary invest.
However, I thought (and maybe I'm completely wrong), that this place was created to give value back to the ones that create value, and that Steem was supposed to be a currency that rewards given attention. Now, if we're able to use vote trading services in order to buy attention (visibility e.g. through a trending position) then we purchase attention but we don't earn it any longer.
My personal understanding of the current content structure is: attention (reading time, social interaction, etc.) has to be earned. That's the driver of this eco-system. At least that was my understanding of Ned Scott's presentation at the first Steemfest in Amsterdam. I wasn't there but I watched the videos. There was one chart where @ned explained steemit's life cycle. The core driver here was value created through social interaction.
Maybe I'm much more naive than you are but that has always been my idea of this platform :-D