So, despite the block reward being >$1000, and not due for halving until 3.75 years time, fees are forced to do a moonshot.
That "moonshot" is because someone created a single transaction with 94BTC in fees:
13dffdaef097881acfe9bdb5e6338192242d80161ffec264ee61cf23bc9a1164Fees are rising, but they haven't spiked like you think they have.
Thanks retep for this finding. I really did not consider that one transaction could be responsible. Someone "accidentally" paid $4000 to execute a payment. Ouch! What a coincidence that the world's most expensive payment transfer happened just when bitcoin traffic was so busy...
My concern still stands, that using higher fees as a lever against SatoshiDice-like spam is counterproductive. Just as an overdose of chemotherapy hurts the patient much more than the cancer itself.
There has to be a more intelligent way to rein in abuse of Bitcoin as a messaging system.