The only real problem I see with mining is centralization.
Centralization will be the beginning of the gentrification of Bitcoin. Once it is centralized it can be controlled by banks and governments.
Agreed. But its a solvable problem.
Please elaborate.
I addressed one solution above. Other ameliorating factors can be introduced. For example, mining could be moved to side-chains with small, fast block rewards. This would not penalize current miners but would make it easier for amateurs to add distribution without throwing in to a big pool. Anything that leads to more, smaller pools would be good. It works because the side-chains would be merge-mined with the bitcoin 1.0 chain.