Miners are individuals with long term bitcoin prospects. I don't think a short term bearish market on BTC price is enough disincentive to hang up their rather expensive hardware they invested in and waited for with their eyes on the prize. So for that reason I don't think that difficulty is lagging behind price.

Do you mean that the price of mining hardware is lagging behind difficulty? Profit and the secret to a self sustainable mining program seems to favour the early birds in pre-orders. And for these guys there seems to have been good return from their mining equipment. There is definitely the other side of the coin where late comers find themselves burnt.

I think the question is- where is this line of profitability? Will it favour the miners more once the hardware mining industry becomes more competitive?