I'd see this as only part of the picture, specifically a minutely small part of it right now in July 2014.

I don't see anonymous transactions as an absolute necessity for the purchasing of consumer goods. I don't really care if someone looks up on a blockchain that I bought boots and socks last year. I do care that people could look up my previous paychecks on a blockchain, by simply having my previous address. I'd also care greatly if I were to be running a business that both competitors, customers and hired labor could see every single transaction I had performed in the past simply by having my address and doing business with me. It's a venue that would only open up a lot of headaches if all those details were to be made automatically and immediately public.

I would have contractors underbidding each other with information that I don't currently share ever, I would have competition both knowing who my customers are (and the details of the interactions with me), and potentially buying them/influencing them and in turn threatening my business. I would have employees relentlessly asking me questions that they shouldn't ever need to ask. Having a public blockchain in such situations would present a series of ethical questions that most people are not ready to answer. It would present a series of multiple problems that, for a business, are already mitigated by banks obscuring payment data. If that were to be removed, I can't imagine it being less than extremely disruptive.

Should cashier A know what cashier B gets paid? Apart from that, should anyone who ever sent you money know the exact contents of your wallet (as well as any other tx's you've made)? Should I allow my contractors to potentially bankrupt themselves, or put them in a situation where they are permanently compelled to offer more for less (and in turn potentially lead to offering less for less)? Should I allow myself to open my customers to pursuit by potentially unwelcomed attention from someone they otherwise would have never had contact with?

A private blockchain acts much like a spam filter IMO. My personal opinion as a consumer, I do not mind terribly the spam. My personal opinion as someone who's been a part of industry/business for over a decade, I would not touch bitcoin knowing that it would just give me headaches. Businesses can't be convinced to 'hold it because it'll be worth more some day', because they already have something that's making them lots of money (their business). They're not gonna put that at risk, and trade one thing that can be worth something some day, for something that's valuable today. I'm not talking about one-man shops.