Want to see bitcoin traded for goods instead of hoarded? The currency needs to be fundamentally inflationary in nature. Where are all of the merchants flooding in to embrace bitcoin?
Part of the reason Bitcoin is deflationary is because it's much simpler that way. The only way a bunch of computer geeks are going to embrace a more complicated solution is if:
A. Bitcoin crashes and burns horribly
B. A better alternative is demonstrated
Be patient: most merchants have not even heard of bitcoin yet. Bit-pay and us (perhaps other evangelists) are only starting to speak up at trade shows. We are meeting big merchants and the idea of bitcoin is gradually gaining attention within these organizations.
Adopting a new transaction acquisition mechanism is not something a big merchant will engage in without due diligence: we are in the middle of it.
As far as alternatives are concerned, bitcoin IS an alternative to elastic money as we know it (dollars, euros, etc). I fail to see what an elastic cryptocurrency would bring to the table. As soon as you deal with a non zero demurrage rate or money supply growth rate, the question is who sets the non-zero value of the rate. With bitcoin, the rate is set to zero, period. Much easier to build a wide consensus on that.