Honestly, I believe the idea of the 4 week powerdown is that major whales want to be able to get out quick and leave everyone else hurt. Imagine what would happen in a bull market if Steemit Inc. could sell off 25% of their stack in a week. Steem would stay low and they'd get out with as much earnings as possible.
In my opinion it is a wholely self-serving objective.
Thanks for your very good points. I can only hope that the change does not scale through because of the resulting catastrophe that will come from such changes.