When Steem was first started a power down took six months to complete. Why so long? Those who have Steem power have control over aspects of the platform. Moving to 13-weeks meant that those with weak hands (hot money) would come in and get out quickly.
Maybe decisions are made for short term value to Steem at the expense of longer term value. Some large investors in Steem were upset with that change.
Now it is going from thirteen to four. I would have liked to see a stable Steem dollar but I guess it is the wrong block chain for that.