...
P.S. To avoid complicated maths, model this at the limit, i.e. "the cost of mining 1 BTC is slightly less than market price of 1 BTC, as per satoshi's prognostication.
P.P.S: Which would you do:
1. spend 10 dollars to make five dollars
2. spend "five hundred and twenty million dollars" to make a billion dollars
(chose one)
The cost of mining one BTC is not slightly less than the market price of one BTC. When Satoshi mentioned this he was pointing out something that I am alluding to as well however. Which is that miners will chase profit until it is not as profitable anymore. For example, if Bitcoin doubles in price my mining operation will all of a sudden make twice as much money, at such a point it does make sense for me to expand my operation so that more profit can be made. A good mining operation should expand and retract depending on the network conditions, an increased price is a very clear sign for most miners to expand, unless the difficulty is skyrocketing as well, which does however imply that other miners beat them to the expansion, which is pretty much what is happening now with the mining industry.
Assume: you are a perfect miner, mining at the ragged edge of profitability today.