Please explain why the following isn't a BAD issue for Bitcoin. Thank You.

[whatisthename]

I sincerely ask this as I'm trying to learn more.

Say 1 BitCoin is worth $50,000USD. How is that sustainable?
What I mean is how is it sustainable for the public? Say John wants to buy a sweater with Bitcoins and the sweater costs .00352 BitCoins (for example purposes). Is BitCoin ONLY going to succeed because on the website it will say .00352 BitCoins equals $20USD?

It seems that without another currency that people use everyday to relate to, Bitcoin won't work, right?

That's why it can never be only Bitcoin as one of the most popular currencies, right? I think it will just confuse people if they look at a shop and see a sweater for .00352 without another Government currency to relate it to. They can say, "Oh Ok, this sweater is $20USD....that price makes sense)

All in all I'm saying (if you wish) please explain why the huge decimals won't kill BitCoin's useability.

Thank you, I'm going to work, have a good day!

[flower1024]

there is mBTC and other variants. just like you buy some gum for 20 cent you could buy it for 20mBTC.

[Lethos]

Bitcoin has many ways to represent smaller numbers.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ

1 BTC = 1 bitcoin
0.01 BTC = 1 cBTC = 1 centibitcoin (also referred to as bitcent)
0.001 BTC = 1 mBTC = 1 millibitcoin (also referred to as mbit (pronounced em-bit) or millibit or even bitmill)
0.000 001 BTC = 1 μBTC = 1 microbitcoin (also referred to as ubit (pronounced yu-bit) or microbit)
0.000 000 01 BTC = 1 satoshi (pronounced sa-toh-shee)

Think about outside the box, if pretty much every part of the chain, from sale/purchase of an item, and all things needed for it, includes wages are paid in Bitcoin, it's not that difficult to see Bitcoin as replacing any and all currencies.

Right now, I don't expect it to, for me, it provides the ideal way to do international trade, a universal currency.

[itcamefrommars]

i suppose it will be like in the old days where 1 dollar would buy you something worth like 75 dollars worth of corn/tobacco/shovels/etc... think 1800's.
So they would talk about parts of a dollar.  I think the value of BTC is just getting to be where this will be a real concern/convenience.

Ironically... we used to say "That'll be 2 bits" or a "two bit theif" ... there meaning 2 bits worth .25 dollars.  I had an uncle that in the 80's still would complain that phone calls shouldnt cost 2 bits when the regular price went from 10 cents/call to a quarter.
Now we are saying a BITcoin is worth blahblah... what will we call the bits of BTC?  hehe!
Is a bytecoin worth 8 BTC.. and a word coin 4... and we could have blockcoins and such!
Actually I think the use of uBTC is already being used some... just till now with the current values rising might it be seen more.

[Peter Lambert]

...
Say 1 BitCoin is worth $50,000USD. How is that sustainable?
...

Flip the question on its head and as how a dollar it worth the goods your willing to exchange it for. It isn't, its an almost worthless piece of paper, its value is defined by common agreement. That's influenced by many things but confidence through government backing is the main one. Bitcoin doesn't have government backing, instead its confidence comes from the cold hard laws of mathematics.

Lots more reasons than that, there's some good threads on what bitcoin is backed by (functionality is a big one) but ultimately its confidence.

The more people use a currency, the more comfortable they are with estimating a price. If you use bitcoin alot, then you will get a feeling for what prices should be. If I make 10 mBTC per hour at my job, and I go to a diner and pay 5 mBTC for a nice meal, and then I go to the store and get a suit for 50 mBTC and pay 500 mBTC for my monthly rent, then I have some idea of where prices are and if I am getting a good deal or not.

[Gabi]

Bitcoin is still a very small currency, it fluctuate a lot and of course it is easier to compare it with another one wich everyone know. Once it will become worldwide, it will be much more stabler

huge decimals

0.00352 can easily become 3.52  I don't see the problem. Open your bitcoin client, setting->options->show, you can set it to show your bitcoin total in mBTC or uBTC. See? Problem already solved