Ha, ha, no way. The run up at the end of 2013 clearly got everyone spoiled to the fun of straight line advances. A year ago bitcoin was still under 100 USD and 250 USD was the peak everyone was sad about missing out on. 2014 may not see us hit a new high, but it is far from the worst year ever!
Well, if we are talking about % and not absolute gains, the picture may not be so dandy.
Even in percentage terms bitcoin is up huge from where it was a year ago. The problem is confusing Nov & Dec of 2013 (which were AWESOME!!!!) with all of 2013. Yes bitcoin is down from January 2014, but if you look at the average price over the year, so far it is way higher than last year.
Not saying the picture is dandy, but hardly the worst ever. Now we go back to under 100 USD, now you are talking a bad situation.
I don't think splitting bitcoin into a bunch of smaller units will help, but it might address the whole
what do we call subunits of bitcoin problem.