It's what happens when a resource is scarce. The reward pool is limited. The ability to influence who gets the rewards is limited by each person's SP. So why not make sure you and your allies always get a fixed portion. Contracts might not be written out but it's clear that such activities have long since been established. And who is to say that anyone's content is deserving of the rewards?

If we look at metrics from other websites, is any post on steemit really worthy of the rewards it gets at these prices?

Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll no.

Maybe if a post is awe-inspiring enough to drag tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions of pageviews would it deserve anything above a few hundred dollars.

Otherwise it's just another shot in the darkness of the steemit echo-chamber, destined to reach the eyes of people who are already here, bound to the platform out of the necessity to generate an income from it.

And I fully agree with you, rational thinking and observation of how prices are dictate that we should be maximizing earnings while we can, as the price will not be subsidized as it is for much longer.