Thanks for the comprehensive response! Indeed there needs to be the following:-

• Supermassive votes which sap voting power, and maybe even go to "debt". Probably not for downvotes. Or just a more powerful vote will be enough.
• Probably an estimate display of potential rewards that will be given according to % of votes. I could understand that this might be taxing to the network though. But probably a "hacked" ballpark way of easily calculating out a figure might be possible. Steem rewards also dilute over time, depending on network distribution. May be tricky, but a useful indicator.

I like the idea of thinking of it as a transaction where I get to transact a certain amount of the resources, and in the case of buying something, I'd then have the option to supplement with actual currency that I hold in my wallet.

Yeah this will work great for purchases!