Thanks for your responses to a Newbie.

Seems pretty clear that $ are currently more viable than BTC. Frankly I'm more interested in increasing my $ holdings than BTC - maybe this will change in the future, but at this time BTC are too illiquid and WAY too speculative. That being said, it is also a VERY interesting development and fun to dabble in! As with most things, I expect a few people will make lots of money (shrewd exchanges like MtGox) and lots of people will lose money. Of course it is only money...

OK, I'm proud to be a Newbie and you can probably tell my status from subject question...

Seems there is an opportunity to buy BTC in USD at BitStamp and sell at Mt Gox for arbitrage. Of course if it were that simple everyone would be doing it - but with a couple of quick searches I have not found this issue addressed on the forum. I look forward to a good answer from an Oldie.

Current rates:
http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/currency/USD.html