BTC mining boom over for the little guys?

[CryptoWonk]

OK, I've only been reading about and getting into cryptocurrencies for the last month or so, but from everything I've read, mining BTC is going to be just getting more and more expensive and hardware-driven as time goes on.  For me, I'm "small time" and I only have about $1000 to "invest" in either a mining rig or trading currencies.  I will probably just go with scrypt-based mining, so BTC is probably off the table for me.

So is there any hope for the little guys like me, other than trading currencies for BTC and holding/hoping to profit?

[SlidingHorn]

In short:  Unfortunately, no.

It seems that with everyone jumping on the "big money bitcoin bandwagon," grabbing up specialized equipment, etc., that it's near impossible to efficiently mine BTC as an "Average Joe"