You are also missing the point. The point is: it is irrelevant if mining is profitable or not at any given moment. Author of the article states that it is, when

You are also missing the point. The point is: it is irrelevant if mining is profitable or not at any given moment. Author of the article states that it is, when it is not. If it is unprofitable - some of the competition will crumble, thus making mining more profitable for the rest of miners. We need miners because they RUN the network. We don't need them to make huge bucks out of it. Existing mechanism (difficulty adjustment plus bitcoin market price plus mining costs) will guarantee that in the long term (after current artificial bubble stabilizes) mining will be just as profitable as any other business investment.