My question is who do these high fees benefit?
Miners and nothing more, they are the direct beneficiary of the increasing nature of the transaction fee, but we must not forget that this experience too is not a long time effect, it only happened occasionally and there are times the same miners looses as they sometimes receives half the reward of their mining when the hash rate is fluctuated on the other side effect, aside the transaction fee charges they receives, base on how congested the network is.