The idea of 'supporting the value of steem dollars' against market forces is a bit like asking people to pay more taxes than they ought, just to support the good ol usa, be patriotic. If the 'value' of the steem dollar is less than the dollar, then it is so. Only by improving the value of what the steem dollar represents can the steem dollar increase its value relative to the dollar. In fact, there is no rationale for having any 'peg' or backing to the steem dollar other than what the steem dollar is good for by itself, such as spending it with people and businesses who want to receive it, and using it as a savings account, as it seems there is actually a real return, provided you wait to cash out at the lower 'dollar' valuation, or some other valuation depending on the alternate currency or commodity. Leave it up to the individual to decide what they wish to exchange their steem dollars for, so they can pick the one they like, whichever the best value is at the time, such as bitcoin, maybe.
If there were to be a 'peg', which is just an arbitrary thing anyway, as people can if they like sell the steem dollars for $0.01 each or less, then the 'peg' should be an average of the global currencies and metals, like gold & silver & copper & palladium & etc., and the 'dollar' and the 'yen' and the 'yuan' and the 'euro' and the 'pound' and so on. Average all those valuations, however the money magicians do it, and say your 'steem dollar' is worth that, which technically it is. But people can and always will choose to sell lower and buy higher, and vice-versa.
interesting thoughts
The problem with currency, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies, is that too many factors go into maintaining its value to perfectly stablize it. Even with an arbitrary peg, innovation will eventually render it useless. For example, salt was once a prized currency, thus the idom "worth his salt".
And to make matters worse, is that the attractiveness of these currencies is the lack of regulatory agencies and governments to oversee and control them, which make them even more volatile. Of course you're right that asking people to support the value is ridiculous. It's the responsibility of Steemit to make sure people use their currency and that interest and confidence in it stays high. The current system is meant to do that but not as many of the major players or "whales" as they're called, are reinvesting the value back into the platform.
yes, it is impossible to prop up a currency, at least not for long; there is much talk about the dollar faltering, and even possibly crashing, as it has been propped up for a long time and so is in a bit of a bubble.
. the best thing they at steem could do is to enable easy conversion of their currency to others, such as bitcoin, for little or no cost, and the reverse, conversion of other currencies to steem 'dollars'
. changing the name of the currency from 'dollar' to something else would also be good
Congratulations @jimvrude! You have received a personal award!
Click on the badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about this award, click here
Congratulations @jimvrude! You have received a personal award!
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
Congratulations @jimvrude! You received a personal award!
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!