Good overview Wry. Two points of clarification I've been curious about: I think the general inflation that occurs and is distributed to holders of SP occurs in SP, not in STEEM. I know the whitepaper says that the supply of STEEM doubles, but I think they mean the combined supply of STEEM, SP, and SMD (as valued in STEEM, because STEEM is the unit of account). Hence, the STEEM balance of my wallet doesn't increase but the SP balance does. I think that's how it works - do you?

Also, when people power down, is their entire SP taken out of circulation while it's being paid out in installments or just powered down in installments? So if I have 104 SP and power down all of it, I get 1 SP per week. But am I also earning SP as a SP-holder on my remaining SP balance, even though it's been committed to STEEM over the course of two years?

Thanks! I agree, I haven't found any great explanations of the rather complex mechanics. This is great! If I had more SP, my vote would be worth more!