Hi @mynameisbrian - It is very difficult to consider putting money into Steem when you can see these huge stakeholders and how they are treating people, the system flaws and the lack of respect for the end-users.
If the only reason right now to buy is to negate the whales... a person is going to have to purchase a whole lot of steem, I've done the math and the amount of stake one would have to buy to gain influence, would still not have much payoff in ROI.
Of course there is speculation - but without the platform, Steem is just another (I am going to grow up some day and be Bitcoin)