The whales have been 'downvoted' by the market. :) Maybe not exactly the same thing, but some of the same feelings likely exist.
I agree with you that there is an issue with how rewards appear to be 'taken away'. We've done a lot of brainstorming how to deal with that such as not showing the unpaid reward amount in the UI (if you go look it up yourself from the blockchain, that's on you, arguably), but nothing has gained widespread support including from the Steemit team who runs the web site.
FYI, my current downvoting bot places the downvote immediately after a whale vote so the reward doesn't increase, stay high for hours, and then be 'taken away' with a late downvote. The effect you see from my bot is just a smaller increase. Occasionally I do vote manually though (or the bot has glitches) so this doesn't always apply, but 99% of the time currently, it does. Of course, I have no control over Mr. OGBW or anyone else.
The way your bot works makes sense. This was a funny case because I had already received the downvotes from abit and yourself and figured the 277 votes and 131 comments meant the ~$59 potential was a real, valid, non-whale reward. Since it was my first time trending in the number one spot, I thought that was special also. When it got smacked down to $9 minutes before payout, I was certainly surprised. Same with the other two posts. The market is a nebulous force, but it's funny how we as individuals feel differently when actions are taken by another individual. The problem with hiding the potential payouts is a post might still be high up on the trending page and receive much less than other posts with a similar or even worse ranking. The more irrational the system of rewards appears, the more frustrated people will get with it. Then it starts to appear like a rigged lottery or a broken slot machine, one which only benefits the financially powerful. I think that perception may be more dangerous that many other negative perceptions as far as future adoption. Yes, hopefully Steem Power will distribute as whales power down, sell, and new whales are created. My concern, I guess, is with bad actors who aren't powering down and selling or they aren't doing so quickly.