In Canada we have "Canadian Tires", a hardware supply store. They had their own cash "Canadian Tires Dollars" that you could only redeem in their own store. It's the same concept with air miles points too. You create an easy way for people to accumulate value, give them a way to spend it...et voila! You've got a parallel economy.

But steemit brings it to a level they didn't think about: being able to trade those dollars Peer to Peer, exchange services to each other for that currency and provide a platform that leverage it's community. I raise my hat to that vision.