I also disagree. I don't think it has ever been "easy". No matter what point you joined the site, you've always had to work for your dollars and power. It's not like people joined when this first opened up and they became millionaires. No matter what platform you join, you still have to work for it to earn anything. YouTube you have to post content that people want to watch, blogs have to post good content and drive traffic for ad revenue, and Steemit is no different. If you want to climb, you have to work. Nothing is handed out for free.