The rationale, in a nutshell, is that on the current base generation number of 32 there are too many coins being generated too quickly. We underestimated the number of miners there would be in the initial phase of SolidCoin 2.0 and now are in the position where the market is flooded with coins which are being mined for nearly zero cost and for which there are not enough buyers.
SolidCoin aims to achieve a value where 1SLC = $1-2. Even with all the stuff we have planned, this is never going to happen with the current generation rates, so action needs to be taken. Cutting the generation rate increases the cost to produce a SolidCoin and restricts the number of new coins being created.
With regard to being "fair", all I can say to you is that this has been announced in advance with plenty of warning. Everyone still has a chance to become an early adopter right now, and in fact it's much cheaper to become an early adopter now than it has been in the past.
Mining difficulty is relatively low right now and we're chucking out high value blocks like there's no tomorrow. The price of SolidCoin on the exchanges is also extremely low, much lower than it was when the chain was shut down a few weeks ago, so there has never been a better time to become an early adopter, either by mining yourself or buying up huge numbers of cheap coins - take your pick. I can't really see how we could make it any more "fair".
Ten98, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever. There's no reason to target 1SLC = $1-2. What is that a target for a month, a year, 5 years, 100 years? How can you possibly set that target? And why would you when your goal is to replace the dollar? Why not let the market decide? You could easily just call it 1NSC (new solidcoin) where 1NSC = 10SLC and have that be your base coin. Then if a SLC is only worth, $.1-.2, your NSC will be worth $1-2.
This move is made by someone who does not understand economics. CH/RS may be an advanced coder (though I'm starting to doubt that seeing his hashrate bug fix/unfixed/refixed issue), he has no clue about economics and market dynamics. He's manipulating the market and artificially increasing the value of SC (just look at btc-e.com) and totally screwing over any chance of his coin succeeding long term. Yeah sure, it's a GREAT pump and dump scam, but that's about it.
To all SC supporters, make sure you cash out your SC and make some money. CH/RS has rewarded you guys well by effectively made your SC work 4x-5x times. Take advantage of that before SolidCoin dies.