That doesnt mean that you cant make Bitcoins in a profitable manner. It just means that you have to think more outside the box. You cant make money where everybody is trying to make money. You need unique, creative methods that you can scale up.
+1. Thank you. This is the most sane post I have ever read in the Newbie forum. The market equilibrium profit rate for mining should be close to 0 profit. Just enough revenue on average to cover the energy, cooling, hardware, and monitoring/setup labor costs plus a small risk premium to account for the uncertainty in mining. At this point, I strongly advise that Newbies don't waste their time mining unless they are experienced computer hardware specialists. Instead, please offer goods/services in exchange for bitcoin. The whole point of bitcoin is that it is designed with the goal that a single person or group can't print currency willy nilly.
+1. Thank you again
If you're using ANY 5xxx or 6xxx series card, it is profitable to mine. I don't care what your electric costs are, but the price/difficulty ratio isn't yet terrible enough for those who pay the most for electricity to be unprofitable.
Keep in mind the current USD bitcoin value is very speculative, and I don't think the current total market value of all bitcoins currently in existence accurately reflects the size of the bitcoin economy. Please offer goods and services in exchange for bitcoin instead. Bitcoin is not about mining for the same exact reason that gold is not about mining.
Smart post.