Feathercoin just expands the options better for people that dont have LTC due to the LTC hoarders.
Anyone can buy LTC, and mining a low diff coin provides no more value than an equal amount of mining on a high diff coin; mining profitability of both will balance over time. There are actually
fewer options for FC because it's accepted in fewer places but is otherwise identical to LTC. It doesn't solve any problems at all. And since both are deflationary by design, they both encourage "hoarders".
There arent just enough bitcons to go around, especially when some people are like "OMG Bitcoin! I want one! Just ONE!. And theres only 21 mil to go around..):
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#21_million_coins_isn.27t_enough.3B_doesn.27t_scaleIf Bitcoin ever becomes widely accepted, people will decide they just want "just ONE mBTC". They wouldn't want the nice round number of 1 BTC any more than a nice round $1 million.
with BTC just being reserved for high cost, high level transactions such as buying property, while PPC, FC and LTC can replace the actual dollar, with LTC being used for the semi-high transactions such as buying cars, etc.
There's nothing actually restricting coins to a particular use, so people would avoid exchange fees and technical complexity and gravitate towards fewer (if not only 1-2) currencies.