Welcome to the 84th weekly installment of my series on Steem income and growth!
Income on the Steem blockchain is generated by "investment" (the more currency you have, the more you earn) and by "work" (earning currency by contributing content that adds value). All my crypto holdings are in the STEEM currency. Now I'm working to earn more, by uploading unique valuable content to the blockchain.
Calculating weekly income
Considering income from accounts that I own, that my wife @MediKatie owns, and group projects using our funds (currently 
Week 01 - 0840 (+ ? ) STEEM (+n/a%)
Week 02 - 0848 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.95%)
Week 03 - 0862 (+14) STEEM (+1.65%)
Week 04 - 0868 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.70%)
Week 05 - 0876 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.92%)
Week 06 - 0888 (+12) STEEM (+1.37%)
Week 07 - 0914 (+26) STEEM (+2.93%)
Week 08 - 0929 (+15) STEEM (+1.64%)
Week 09 - 0936 (+ 7 ) STEEM (+0.75%)
Week 10 - 0953 (+17) STEEM (+1.82%)
Week 11 - 0960 (+ 7 ) STEEM (+0.73%)
Week 12 - 0966 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.63%)
Week 13 - 0973 (+ 7 ) STEEM (+0.72%)
Week 14 - 0980 (+ 7 ) STEEM (+0.72%)
Week 15 - 0986 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.61%)
Week 16 - 0991 (+ 5 ) STEEM (+0.51%)
Week 17 - 0996 (+ 5 ) STEEM (+0.50%)
Week 18 - 1032 (+36) STEEM (+3.61%)
Week 19 - 1040 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.78%)
Week 20 - 1045 (+ 5 ) STEEM (+0.48%)
Week 21 - 1051 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.57%)
Week 22 - 1059 ( +8 ) STEEM (+0.76%)
Week 23 - 1065 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.56%)
Week 24 - 1073 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.75%)
Week 25 - 1079 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.56%)
Week 26 - 1091 (+12) STEEM (+1.11%)
Week 27 - 1100 (+ 9 ) STEEM (+0.82%)
Week 28 - 1105 (+ 5 ) STEEM (+0.45%)
Week 29 - 1108 (+ 3 ) STEEM (+0.27%)
Week 30 - 1119 (+11) STEEM (+0.99%)
Week 31 - 1151 (+32) STEEM (+2.86%)
Week 32 - 1159 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.70%)
Week 33 - 1166 (+ 7 ) STEEM (+0.60%)
Week 34 - 1172 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.51%)
Week 35 - 1177 (+ 5 ) STEEM (+0.42%)
Week 36 - 1183 (+ 6 ) STEEM (+0.50%)
Week 37 - 1196 (+13) STEEM (+1.10%)
Week 38 - 1204 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.66%)
Week 39 - 1220 (+16) STEEM (+1.33%)
Week 40 - 1250 (+30) STEEM (+2.46%)
Week 41 - 1264 (+14) STEEM (+1.12%)
Week 42 - 1287 (+23) STEEM (+1.82%)
Week 43 - 1300 (+13) STEEM (+1.01%)
Week 44 - 1312 (+12) STEEM (+0.92%)
Week 45 - 1323 (+11) STEEM (+0.84%)
Week 46 - 1351 (+28) STEEM (+2.12%)
Week 47 - 1372 (+21) STEEM (+1.55%)
Week 48 - 1394 (+22) STEEM (+1.60%)
Week 49 - 1410 (+16) STEEM (+1.15%)
Week 50 - 1436 (+26) STEEM (+1.84%)
Week 51 - 1481 (+45) STEEM (+3.13%)
Week 52 - 1505 (+24) STEEM (+1.59%)
Week 53 - 1517 (+12) STEEM (+0.80%)
Week 54 - 1529 (+12) STEEM (+0.79%)
Week 55 - 1540 (+11) STEEM (+0.72%)
Week 56 - 1555 (+15) STEEM (+0.97%)
Week 57 - 1576 (+21) STEEM (+1.35%)
Week 58 - 1606 (+30) STEEM (+1.90%)
Week 59 - 1620 (+14) STEEM (+0.87%)
Week 60 - 1631 (+11) STEEM (+0.68%)
Week 61 - 1647 (+16) STEEM (+0.98%)
Week 62 - 1674 (+27) STEEM (+1.64%)
Week 63 - 1685 (+11) STEEM (+0.65%)
Week 64 - 1702 (+17) STEEM (+1.01%)
Week 65 - 1714 (+12) STEEM (+0.71%)
Week 66 - 1722 (+ 8 ) STEEM (+0.47%)
Week 67 - 1734 (+12) STEEM (+0.70%)
Week 68 - 1752 (+18) STEEM (+1.04%)
Week 69 - 1780 (+28) STEEM (+1.60%)
Week 70 - 1937 (157) STEEM (+8.82%)
Week 71 - 2080 (143) STEEM (+7.38%)
Week 72 - 2179 (+99) STEEM (+4.76%)
Week 73 - 2334 (155) STEEM (+7.11%)
Week 74 - 2368 (+34) STEEM (+1.46%)
Week 75 - 2379 (+11) STEEM (+0.46%)
Week 76 - 2424 (+45) STEEM (+1.89%)
Week 77 - 2479 (+55) STEEM (+2.27%)
Week 78 - 2501 (+22) STEEM (+0.89%)
Week 79 - 2517 (+16) STEEM (+0.64%)
Week 80 - 2535 (+18) STEEM (+0.72%)
Week 81 - 2555 (+20) STEEM (+0.79%)
Week 82 - 2567 (+12) STEEM (+0.47%)
Week 83 - 2580 (+13) STEEM (+0.51%)
Week 84 - 2616 (+36) STEEM (+1.40%)
Average weekly growth (last 10 weeks): +24.8 Steem (+1.00%)
Our team was able to put out several posts during the recent week that paid out, and one of them brought in a few bucks, boosting our weekly income up from the dismal levels it has been for a couple months. Our 10 week moving average has stabilized at 1% growth, which is expected to begin rising next week as 3Speak income begins coming in again.
If my team's funds were in a single account, it would be the 4150th richest. We had been moving up about 50 positions per week, but lately we're scarcely making ground against the rest of the pack.
Just for fun, our reputations are now: 66, 56, 53, 51, 51, 51, and 50. Mine puts me at about the 2500th most reputable Steemian (not that it means much).
As I mentioned recently, the value of STEEM (everybody's sole reason for using this blockchain) continues to slide, now at the lowest purchasing power in history.
While that's great news for investors who are looking to buy (if anyone's brave/foolish enough to do so), it's a death sentence for content-creators, and for investors who have already gone all in. I'm a content-creator AND an investor who already went all in (2 years ago). If I had sat on that money for the past 2 years, putting several hours a day into a different project, I'd be able to buy 100 times as much STEEM as I have. But if I could go back in time, I'd tell myself never to get involved in the Steem blockchain. "Self, don't waste your precious time or money there. You'll lose both, for little/nothing in return."
But I did get involved, and I've lost everything (including 2+ years of full-time work). Besides, I'm unbanked (the government thinks I owe them money) so there's no possible way for me to withdraw these funds from the crypto world. My only hope is that they'll some day be worth something again.
Until then, I'm scaling back participation in the blockchain. I've already powered down our alternate accounts (friends who gave up on the blockchain, group projects, etc) and will be transferring all funds to DRutter and MediKatie. We'll also be winding up our cannamodeling under @GirlsofGreen and putting that account on ice as well.
Those who are reading this are the minority who are still here. Everybody else has left. The blockchain is quiet, empty, boring, and primarily contains posts about itself. Nobody from outside is interested. We aren't innovating and haven't been for years. We killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Content-creators have been systematically deplatformed here - not because they're not allowed to post, but because posting here is posting to a void. Steem is an animal farm. It is what it set out to defeat, and to never become like.
And because anyone reading this is a believer, they (you) likely don't agree with what I'm saying. You believe this place has a bright future, like I did 2+ years ago. You're all in. You think Steem will protect you from censorship, and still give you a massive audience. You think the STEEM price will recover, even though it has been falling, NONSTOP, since the very first day 3.5 years ago. You see your SP and rep creeping up, and that's progress to you. You think I'm overreacting, or money-focused, not tough enough, all that. Fair enough, it just means you don't know me.
Even if the STEEM price recovers, which is doubtful, content-creators will never be welcome here again, thanks to the rule changes in HF20 and HF21, which also ensured new accounts can't get started here, cutting off any hope of future growth.
These changes will save our team at least an hour a day of commenting and curating. If it's not making us any money, and what I say isn't being heard by more than 5 or 6 people, it would be ridiculous for me to continue to devote so much of my life to this place. I should have done this long ago, but I'm stubborn, and really wanted to make it work. I put in at least 18 months of full-time effort after I realized this place was doomed. That's downright altruistic.
I'll continue to post and comment for now. MediKatie will keep her account open, but probably won't be posting as much. GirlsofGreen is being phased out and our models let go. Our other accounts are powering down and disappearing. I'll keep [MAP] running (although it too is looking for a way out), and monitor Steem's progress toward oblivion. If something positive happens, I'll be the first to jump back to full strength here, but since it has been a few years without anything like that, I'm not holding my breath.
The joy, excitement, and hope this place once brought my team and I seems so far away now. We wish nothing but the best for everyone, and don't blame you for sticking around, hoping beyond hope. We really know how that feels.
DRutter
