A lot of people mine for the fun of it (shocking, I know).
There is already a declination of mining and trading factions. So for those pvp whores who can’t make money on B.B. can then wait all week for a potential event to be able to make a billion credits while those that play the game for the enjoyment mine/trade/bounty hunt.
Sci-data is like world gas prices; we would all like it cheaper and we believe it’s killing our economy but yet we still buy it because we want to be lazy driving cars instead of taking a public transport network or heaven forbids, cycle anywhere.
I think it is reasonably balanced, spend a day running cargo and earn a bil, or play for an hour once a week and maybe make a Bil. You don’t have to like the idea of hard work but it is what it is.