1.2 million Steem each day? Where are you pulling that number from? The inflation is around 9.5% per year, and a bit more with SBD conversions.
And I don’t ever recall a pre-bot period on Steem in my 3 years here.
I actually think Steem is healthier than it’s ever been, except with the BTC bull, all alts are getting hit, Steem even more so because of the past negative PR.