2) There should be some self-adjustment of fees. Clients should be
able to inquire from the full nodes an estimate for a reasonable
fee based on the current content of the mempool. This would allow for
moderate fees under usual circumstances but would increase fees in
times of flooding the blockchain with scam and would turn scamming
into an expensive exercise.
^^ This.
If my client had warned me about the situation I would not have sent my BTC this morning. 'If my client had said "you're going to need to pay an exorbitant amount in fees if you hope to have your transaction confirmed anytime today thanks to a "stress test" that is currently being perpetrated on mainnet.' I would have appreciated the warning and cancelled the send.
I was going to play a game for 30 minutes or so before work. Now, 4.5 hours later, my BTC is tied up in some unconfirmed transaction. Hey, OP, uh, thanks!