The plan is not seriously to block 80% of functionality for US users, is it

Do I need to go get excited about NXT now instead? I really like the idea for this platform, but it needs to work...
Where can I get a legit answer about this? Is the dividend function blocked in the US? I know the wallet is still being worked on, am I freaking out too soon?
As people create their own wallet implementation, full functionality all over the world will certainly be included in some of them. I think right now you could use the reference client instead of the web wallet and have no issues. I think some people unscrupulously bypass this type of thing with Tor or a VPN, but I do not suggest that.