Give a knowledgeable person physical access to a computer, and all of the clear text views in the browser do not matter. Just crack the user's password and you have access to any stored passwords. The password paradigm is not perfect. There is no perfect solution. Personally I like being able to check passwords easily, while being intelligent enough to put barriers in the path of the 'general snooper.'
> Give a knowledgeable person physical access to a computer
Or in this case, give anyone physical access to your computer, and they have all of your passwords.
Security through obscurity is not security, but it still has practical uses. You could say that hiding the passwords behind the few clicks it takes is not real security, but it's still more useful than having the passwords displayed plaintext on a sidebar at all times.
