To fix the issue, pay more fees.
Is it extortion? There were a lot of 100K blocks, plenty of room for my transaction. I hope pool owners won't cooperate until a good alternative of Bitcoin pops up.
You mean like an international money wire, where your payment is routed through unknown banks who each take their own random fee before it gets to its destination a week later $50 lighter, and you have to fill out the FinCEN AML paperwork. Don't send multiple payments under $10,000 either, or maybe they will all be "forfeited" for attempting to skirt AML laws. You might even have to leave your house.
Western union moneygram? US->US sending $1 costs $5.