I was really hoping the Ethereum team was going to start answering some of the serious questions in this thread, but I'll give them a break for a few days since I know they are at the Miami conference. I just hope they are not discouraged by pages and pages of posts by people who don't seem to have spent any significant amount of time researching this project.

If you are seriously concerned then please frame your posts in the form respectful intelligent questions rather than accusatory bashing rants. You'll find you have more support when you post coherently and factually. Have you actually read the white paper (at least twice), read the previous 28 page thread by tacotime, or bothered to research the core team behind Ethereum and some of their recent work? (rhetorical question). Is 30,000 BTC + 50% premine of the initial batch of coins too much? Maybe. From a 'how much $$ do they really need to operate full time for ~3 years to develop this into a solid platform without having to worry about rent, consultants and lawyer fees' - It definitely strikes me on the high side but not crazy excessive. From a 'this thing *may* really be the best bitcoin 2.0 platform we'll see for a while'... $36 million is going to seem like a very cheap valuation in hindsight.