Thanks for the feedback @timcliff; yours and @smooth's replies helped clarify a bit further. One of my hopes is that an economy of sorts will eventually develop here, where people trade goods and services using Steem/SBD. If the fluctuations are too crazy, that's tricky to execute.
Check out: https://steemeconomy.com/
=)
Ah yes, I saw your announcement about it the other day, and that was an exciting development. I can't help but think that an "economic base" will also help the value of Steem grow.