Thanks for posting this @recursive - I agree, there needs to be a re-balancing between witness pay and daily rewards.

The whole raison d'etre of STEEM is to turn blogging/ social engagement into the new mining. The cost paid to those that maintain the network should reflect this and be as competitive as possible. Investors looking into would rightly question why we are paying so much for (what they would deem as being) IT support! They would also question the disproportion influence garnered by virtue of mining early. Particularly as this influence re-enforces their position as witnesses. I can see this aspect of STEEM as being a big turn off to many investors.

I absolutely get that a lot of witnesses are also people that provide value to STEEM/ Steemit beyond running a node however as mentioned these activities and initiatives can be rewarded via voting on posts and updates.