Hey,

I've been reading quite a bit about Steem and  its  platform steemit and have been considering to buy some Steem.
While I find the project particularly interesting and promising, I'm having a hard time understanding the underlying structure of the steem assets as well as to find up to date information about the coin.

Here are a few questions that I had trouble answering after reading the github readme, parts of the whitepaper, the official website and steemit articles. I apologize if there is another source that I am not aware of where I could have found my response and look forward to hear from anyone here to help me out.

What is the current rate of inflation for Steem ? I read it is 100% but I also read that it was recently reduced, where can I find release notes that can point me in the right direction ?

What is the time required to power down SP ? On the official website it says that it will take 104 weeks of weekly installments but again on the forum I can find that it was reduced to 13, with again no source that I could rely on to confirm that info.

Is there a total number of Steem or will there be always new Steems coming due to the vesting process ?

If I own some Steem and I don't power it up, am I just losing money due to the inflation ? However if I power it up and eventually decide to sell, do I have to wait  13 (or 104) weeks to be able to sell ? But then during those 13 or 104 weeks, I will also suffer from the inflation rate ( except if I market sell my steem as soon as I receive the weekly installment, which is not necessarily the goal ).

From my understanding both ways are a lose lose situation, so I assume that my understanding is incorrect as this is a widely popular project. Again, I'm looking forward to anyone with a better understanding of Steem to help clear up those interrogations.

Thanks !