This is the issue I struggle with ATM. Realizing that every transaction that goes through Bitpay results in an immediate sell order at whatever the current best bid price is on Mt. Gox will actually help drive the valuation lower. We need more speculators and big investors putting the money up to counterbalance this with an upward trend.
The blindness is bizarre. How can you ignore the fact that the BTC used in the transaction also has to be bought with fiat? In order for the BTC to be sold on Mt. Gox by the merchant, it first has to be bought by the customer (on Mt. Gox perhaps). The two currency transactions balance each other perfectly.
You are not right.
I've never invested a single cent of fiat in Bitocoin, yet I have plenty of them "precious" in my wallet, I've also spend many of them in the past on buying various stuff, mostly computer parts, GPUs, FPGAs and ASICs, FYI I always paid in
BTC, admittedly not knowing what the merchant will do with them.
Currently I am contemplating to buy some high-ticket non-Bitcoin related stuff, just waiting for the right moment (i.e. when the markets are more robust, calmer and traders full of confidence), then I will find some time , sit down and make couple of hundred sell orders (to follow the trend).
That's because I care for the economy!