Hello Paul,
I'd like some clarification on the epoc rewards; every node on the network will receive an award for approving an epoc and said award is the same as the block approval reward?
In that case, why approve blocks at all?
There are two different problems that need solving
1. Block approval - where faster is better. If it is slow, the blockchain will have low transaction rate.
2. Defense against History attack - where higher stake participation provides stronger defense. Since some parties will be on slow connections, they may never be able to approve blocks.
Epoch approval solves problem 2.
In addition, wouldn't this cause the currency to inflate out of control as everyone on the network receives the same award?
Yes the currency inflation rate would be higher - about 2x of what without the epoch approval. Determination of the exact reward amount needs additional work. Epoch award needs to be large enough for small stakeholders to feel that participation is worthwhile. Block approval award is mostly expected to go to large stakeholders.
edit: also, wouldn't evidence of the epoc rewards result in a massive amount of data (needing to be stored), since every node on the network will participate?
Yes, epoch rewards will result in a large amount of data storage once per epoch. The epoch period does not have to be very small - it can be around 500-1000 slots.
Regards,
Shunsai