Re: no control [...] over the amount of Bitcoin in circulation
I don't think you can fiddle with the difficulty curve outside the established parameters. It's already tied to ensuring a steady stable trickle of BitCoins into the system; the calculations only become more difficult when new coins are being mined too quickly. Because this is one of the underlying assumptions the BC system is built on, any change would likely lead to a panic 'run' on BitCoins and possibly a crash in value.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
