"The miners have Won".  Since anyone in the public can be a miner, the phase changes to "The public has won".

Gavin Andressen once compared bitcoin to stone money of Yap.   In New York City using construction union wages, what would be the cost of transporting one stone of yap currency to Japan?  $100 $5000?   Say it is $5000, then how much is a stone worth $500,000.  That is what is going to happen to bitcoin.

USD = medium of exchange
capital = and object made of matter used to make more wealth
wealth = objects of value

In a couple years when ssd's become supercheap block size will increase, however 100-1000 years of low cost storage must be assured before this happens.