A lot of people seem to think that even in the most optimistic scenario in which Bitcoin becomes widespread and ubiquitous, mining then will look like mining today from a profitability standpoint. That mining would still be profitable in that future is inconceivable, because the interests of retailers would dictate otherwise.
The act of moving currency around incurrs fees for retailers. They pay fees to card processors, they pay fees for cash movements, they pay fees to payroll processing companies, and they pay fees to their banks. For the purposes of this though experiment let's assume they pay out 5% of their gross revenue in the forms of various fees that Bitcoin could potential eliminate for them.
That's a lot of incentive to switch to Bitcoin. 5% of the gross revenue of the
top 100 retailers is over $100 billion. Consider that number to be a first order estimate of how much these companies would be willing to spend on mining to make Bitcoin a viable replacement for existing currencies.
If a store like Walmart wants to accept bitcoins instead of credit cards then they want their customers' transactions processed quickly. They don't care about prioritizing transaction by fee because their big picture is the profitability of the company as a whole. They don't need mining to be profitable. If they decide the providing complementary mining to the network will benefit their business they will provide it, for the same reason they provide complimentary public restrooms.
Given that the retail sector alone has up to $100 billion to spend on mining as a loss leader, don't plan for it to stay profitable if Bitcoin becomes ubiquitous.
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