You probably are right, just too much playing alone. In next update will reduce how fast it goes up
I've been playing the game more and yeah i think the blackmail could be tweaked, but its definitely doable, it just can be frustrating of getting into a loop of not having enough characters (or characters with high enough stats) to do quests, which leads to less money which leads to not being able to pay the dues. My suggestion would be there could be an option after failing the bounty too many times, an option comes up with an button to reset the run or keep trying. It might makes it feel less like quitting and more like "hm that didn't work, lets try again!" as opposed to refreshing the window which makes me feel like I'm going outside the rules of the game and like cheating.
I also have a problem with character profiles shrinking [about half the size the character normally is], they work fine but it will also shrink whatever item I give them.