The idea that the inflation of Steem was dropping so much clouded my mind to what would happen when the power down was also decreased.

One of the things thats important to remember is that inflation of m2 (actual spendable money) has a far greater effect on the value of money than inflation of m4 (total money supply).

When we decreased powerdown time, we actually increased m2 inflation and decreased m4 inflation, at least in the short term.

In the long term, we are decreasing both. Because had we continued to hyperinflate non spendable m4 (sp balances), eventually that would have spilled over into higher m2. the chart posted by steemit blog shows the worst case scenario for HF16 m2 vs non-HF16 m2.

The blue line is "liquid steem" as it would have increased with no HF16. The green line is sort of a worst case scenario for HF16 liquid steem supply (it assumes everyone powers down as fast as they possibly can). The reality of the liquid supply after HF16 is a line the same shape as the green line, but shifted downward somewhat.

The pount where the blue and green lines converge is the worst cast scenario for when HF 16 liquid money supply will be less than it would have been had we stayed with HF15.

It looks like about 18 months on the chart, but thats a worst case.. obviously as the green line shifts down, convergence comes earlier.