That sad part is that he's not the only one doing this. This happens on a daily basis. Many authors are doing the exact same thing. Only to empower themselves because they can "afford" it.
However, they cannot afford to ruin Steemit... But they're too ignorant or selfish to see that they're contributing to the end of Steemit. In a more rapid way than they can imagine.
But they're also not the ones to blame, as "everyone" is doing this. But it takes only one person to change the behaviour of everyone. As long as it's someone with enough credibility and reputation.
I generally on some bots can get a triple+ return value, even with only a few SBD put on. But I stopped for a few weeks when a lot were always putting on 15SBD +
But I am only using it now and then, withdrawing some out to secure savings and get things I need atm, but I still like to put some back into Steemit for curators etc.
A max bid of $5 or whatever would stop this behaviour and ultimately even out the playfield for everyone.
That would also allow many authors to increase the rewards a little bit, instead of just a handful on each bidding round. - But I guess that'll never happen.