It's a tough question.  I will probably sell them once they are worth millions, but only sell half of them   Do miners still pay better than spending that same money on bitcoins though?  I don't know...

As I understand it, then 100% of all hashing resources will be to process transactions?

1) how will the system distribute transactions to be processed (for that matter, how does it happen now)
at this point instead of millions of miners, there would be only dozens, as it has become expensive to mine. ( much like the change between the pickaxe and the excavators for gold mining) so although there is no "block reward" the transaction fee's would cover the costs of 10 minutes work
2) can you bypass fees altogether by using your own wallet and hashing to process the payment?
no i cant. ill be retired, have died by then. but my grandkids could, but dont expect the greedy mining pols to put your transaction into a block ASAP
3) will pools then cease to be viable?
maybe, but this is a question you are asking answers for, that only apply in over 100 years, so no concern for you. but the answer to question 1 will atleast point you in the right direction.
4) since fees will be based on byte size of transaction, what impact will using different bitcoin addresses for each transaction be versus nout having different ones?
right now it seems the people pushing for single use addresses EG Luke Jr and death&taxes seem to be also pushing for people to send a fee with every transaction. meaning no matter what, pool owners/miners will want to be paid

Again: As I understand it miners secure the network/transactions and make sure no double spending happens. Without the miners there is no bitcoin. If you calculate their costs these costs at least have to be paid somehow plus a small profit for their activity.

As I understand it the miners today are paid through:

1) Bitcoin inflation (they mine bitcoins and get to sell them)
2) transaction fees

If you only pay them through transaction fees how high would they have to go and would bitcoin still be competitive to services like paypal and so on.

At the end of the day the miner will HAVE to make a profit. How high are his costs (electricity, equipment, time) and how high do the transaction fees need to go for the miners to be paid? It should not be pure speculation.

I am new to Bitcoin and have several concerns. Maybe you guys can ease my concerns.  

A) I think that when you talk about Bitcoin as money, you have to look at two aspects.

1) USABILITY, meaning can Bitcoin function as money and 2) "WANTABILITY", meaning is Bitcoin practical and better than other alternatives (digital gold, paypal, fiat)

1) Regarding the first aspect the main concern from goldbugs and other people is that bitcoins might not be scarce and thus be unsuitable. The argument is, that bitcoin can experience inflation through the introduction and use of similar alternative currencies. A valid counter argument is that the first to market principle and network effect will mean that alt. currencies can only be successful if they offer significant benefits to bitcoin.

Couple of points that might diminish the network effect: Merchants could use a software that allows them to accept all kinds of cryptocurrencies so that customers can choose which currency they would like to pay in. Litecoiners could use litecoin and bitcoiners bitcoin. This would reduce the network effect.
much like the store 7-11 accepts dollars in america, euro's in europe and baht in thailand to name a few. there is enough room for more the one crypto currency, much like theres enough room in the world for more then one FIAT currency, and more then one precious metal.
2) My main concern however is WANTABILITY. Bitcoin would have to offer significant benefits to other electronic currency like paypal or goldmoney.
 bitcoin does not have to over power governments of each nation, it doesnt need 100% uptake by all 7 billion people on the planet to be a success

a) Bitcoin is anonymous and decentralized.

This argument is often brought up by bitcoin supporters as a benefit of bitcoin. However I see it as a disadvantage. Or putting it in another way: If bitcoin wants to become a major currency it will become centralized and loose its anonymity.
no it does not. a bank note has been successful for hundreds of years. bank notes have not been required to write your name and address on each note you use.

The reason for this is banking. Pooling resources so that they can be lend out is a vital need for any economy. This is why banks exist. If you have bitcoin banks anonymity wont be allowed by regulators (thats why number accounts are not allowed in many countries) and this will be easily enforced on the bitcoin bank. Also the bitcoin bank will mean that bitcoin wont be decentralized.
research crowdfunding and btcjam. EG Franky 1 lends porc 2 bitcoins. publicly its meaningless because it does not reveal to the public our real life names and addresses. so we do not need to attach real life names and addresses to bitcoins. however if converting to FIAT then and only then will regulators want real life details. and these are held within the exchanges, not made public.

b) Bitcoin transaction costs are cheaper than paypal.

We all know that bitcoin needs miners to ensure that transactions are save and that no double spending occurs. These miners will costs a lot of electricity. At the moment miners are paid through inflation (creation of bitcoins). In future they would be paid with transaction costs. So my question is how can such a system be cheaper than a system that does not need miners?
banks need security guards, technicians, bank cashiers, bank tellers, managers, safe fitters. currently if gavin A and the core developers set Bitcoin-qt to 0 fee and only rely on the 25btc reward along.. and then the devs stopped programming today, we can continue transacting no issues for decades.. no extra fee's ontop of miner 25BTC reward, no donations to bitcoin foundation and the system will still function. even if 98% of miners gave up bitcoin will continue.
Secondly if bitcoin wants to become mainstream it will have to comply with all the regulations other systems like paypal have to follow. This will also increase cost.
regulations only apply to the FIAT side of 'business level exchange' EG the fee bitstamp charge customers to send money to the bank.. it will not affect the fee to send one bitcoin to another bitcoin user.
c) Trust

The next problem I have with bitcoin and its wantability is trust. At the end of the day bitcoin is asking people to trust in its code and that no alternative currency will replace it.
much like countries have to trust bank notes, that one day governments wont screw them over or tell them that certain bank notes are not in circulation no more, making the notes you hid under your matress untransferable.

Its like investing in a technology. You never know if a better cryptocurrency might come along. This will mean that it will fluctuate a lot (every time you hear about a new cryptocurrency).
the price did not move much when for instance prime coin, zetacoin, feathercoin, terracoin came out... but if something new did come out that had significant benefits then people can always sell and then buy the better coin. much like if a better and more maluable metal then gold came out that was just as scarse. EG platinum

Will people want to store wealth in a technology that might be replaced. I think it is rather nerve racking. Also if alt currencies that are similar (like litecoin) can already dilute bitcoin by about 5% what will happen when real marketing gets behind an alternative.
what will happen to your gold when pawn shops stop selling gold and start selling platinum...

At the end of the day you are asking people to believe that 1) the code cant be hacked 2) No alt. currency will inflate bitcoin or even replace it. With gold for example its easy to trust, as there is a physical limit to it.
there is a physical limit to bitcoin too.. but if you want to try mixing alts into the equation. i can easily mix silver and platinum into your gold equation.. making all of your gold impure and have alot more kg of metals for you to spread around.

 If people realize that unlimited amounts of alt. currencies with different codes or similar ones can be created they might loose faith in bitcoin. Because at the end of the day its man made and a bunch of air. Every code has errors many might think.
so is your gold chain around your neck. thats man made, and between each hoop is a bunch of air..

So if we let digital gold compete with bitcoin I think many people will prefer digital gold like goldmoney. Its easier to trust its scarcity and less complex.

B) Bubble at current price?

Obviously the price has exploded. My concern is that the price explosion is due to the fact that people think they will become rich when holding bitcoin. They dont care if its actually suitable as a medium of exchange or if other forms like digital gold might be superior. Also the transactions have not increased with the price. So the explosion in price might be a sign of speculation not a sign that bitcoin is superior to other media of exchange!

Hey Guys,

I don't know if this is an attempt to get people to "trade" or because the pyramid is coming to an end and they are going to cut and run with everyone's assets.

BTC-E is restricting funds withdraws for over 30 days worth of minutes.  I have not seen successful transfers out reported from users behind this time line and they are completely non-responsive on support.

I've wired them over $13,000 USD, the last time I sent a wire was 4 days ago and that $3000 still has not been credited to my account.

I sent them my ID and utility bill per their request and then requested the funds hold go away. They just ignore those requests.

I know have many open tickets with them and feel like they are going to take all the money and run.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND not using them at this time until I Report they are doing the right thing.

Will be back with updates.

Please learn how Bitcoin works.  The number of addresses used as inputs in a tx is irrelevant to the tx size.   Each INPUT (same address or different) uses ~150 bytes.  10 inputs from the same address = ~1.5KB.  10 inputs from 10 addresses = ~1.5KB.

Seems most are breathing a sigh of relief thinking that the hearing added no push for new regulations or laws. What they said was the existing AML and KYC is sufficient for now.

Hello? KYC means what? Know Your Customer.
That means merchants required to know who you are. That means reporting to the government.
Electronic currency on a public ledger means they can ramp up these existing laws to require e-file reporting on smaller and smaller transactions.
The NSA is mopping everything. Soon the FinCEN or DHS or... will be mopping up all transaction identities.
If you aren't whitelisted, the merchant can't accept you.
666 anyone?
Don't be so naive. These transformations move slowly enough that you boil like a frog.

you want to try living in the UK, 500BTC will only just about fill a tank right now (we are over $10 a gallon at the moment....  )