The big factions have enough money anyway. So they could abuse it even more.
I agree with that, it's not a matter of money but a matter of time. If you have to wait for 20 days before you get back your karma in a city when you kill someone i think it's enough dissuasive.
the reputation decay thign needs to be remove - it will only result in massive jump in PK ing in "safe areas" and expecially where guards are weak.
The thing is, when you shoot or kill someone you still get very bad karma, and the decay is much lower than the malus you get from shooting. -2000 each kill versus +100 a day. Having a bad karma in a city is VERY annoying, especially when you are experiencing a battle in that city versus another gang. Better to have to best karma you can in every city.
Another example, i got -14k reputation in Modoc, cause everytime i want to get out, some npc run after me and i have to kill them if i want to end combat. I only kill one guy once and now i have this -14K (many people have experienced this). Everytime i get into this city i get -1000 or -2000 each time i want to get out. Now, i need to wait for 140 (!) real-time days if i want to be ok with Modoc's citizens, that an huge amount of time and i think i deserve it, because i killed them a lot of time.
Anyway if i want my karma back, i need to stay
out (can't go even once) from the city during a large amount of time, and i find it realistic in somehow, they probably forget about me especially if another people also got bad karma in it, they would have someone else to run after.