[jack_trades]

So financial journalists have no idea how these things are made, used, or what place they have within transactions, economies, etc. and you expect masses of people to eventually feel comfortable with the stuff?

The fear that is engendered by a non-tangible, value-containing set of bytes of data on a computer in the age of hacker doom-dom is quite likely the extent of what you need to know about its foreseeable viability and should put the current "value rollercoaster" into perspective.

How does the layman NOT lump the early adopters/hype pumpers in with the same crowd vandalizing paypal and credit card companies? So these kids created a currency to reject the system and they think this is the future?

It's like watching some unruly teenagers with a very large potato gun mounted to their friend's back and saying... "This is the future of the postal service. Buy stamps while they're cheap."

It's the emperor's new clothes. That's not a currency. It's barely a digital promise to anonymous posters on 4chan. As long as there isn't anybody with a strong incentive to pull the plug, this thing will continue to eat up every online "watering hole." It's great for silk road, but spare us the hype machine. The only people with incentive are adopters.

They shut that zeek's reqards down in NC and now everyone is hopping on the p2p currency train. Start your own business! Invest in the peoples' coin!