I know much of this response was not directed at my question, but I still found it incredibly helpful. The main goal we should focus on is increasing the value of steem. When that happens EVERY group benefits. 40% of a pool based on $10 steem is a hell of a lot better than 50% of .25 steem that is for sure. I agree that author rewards are not even close to the only way to attract and retain people (I happen to be partial to games myself). That is why I am a huge fan of the idea of funding development of projects that can help increase the price.
I understand that this is not actually going to be a 20% reduction in content rewards (provided people don't double dip). I was just wondering if the cost reduction to run servers coupled with a new way to reward witnesses for the projects they are running would have the same effect as the shifting of content rewards. If it did, then perhaps a portion could come from witness rewards. But based on quite a few comments I have read, it seems like that may not be wise. Thanks for taking the time to weigh in.