So this slows the growth of the blockchain. If blockchain length is already becoming an issue today, what happens a year from now if trading volume multiplies as much as it did in the past year? What happens in five, ten years? Could the blockchain outstrip the economic feasibility of maintaining it at some point, or is there a mechanism already built into Bitcoin that addresses this?
There is a game called "satoshidice" that is basically clogging the network with ridiculous amounts of tiny transactions. So far, there's plenty of room for "normal" traffic. Here's an opinionated explanation that sums up people's dislike of the practice: http://buttcoin.org/satoshidice-is-killing-bitcoin