About early signs of a deflation:

"The first proposition is that the prices of gold and other raw commodities are
extremely sensitive to changes in monetary conditions and are therefore good predic-
tors of future movements of general consumer goods’ prices, which tend to respond
much more slowly to such changes. As Bruce Bartlett (2001) wrote, “When one sees
a sustained fall in sensitive commodity prices—those that lead changes in the general
price level—one can predict that eventually this trend will work its way through the
economy as a whole.”
"

Deflation is generally benign, except a form called "confiscatory deflation";

"There does exist an emphatically malign form of deflation that is coer-
cively imposed by governments and their central banks and that violates property
rights, distorts monetary calculation and undermines monetary exchange. It may
even catapult an economy back to a primitive state of barter if applied long and relent-
lessly enough. This form of deflation involves an outright confiscation of people’s
cash balances by the political and bureaucratic elites.
"

These are excempts from an article on deflation by Salorno, who is an excellent writer. The article:

AN AUSTRIAN TAXONOMY OF DEFLATION—WITH
APPLICATIONS TO THE U.S.
JOSEPH T. SALERNO
THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

In the article a recent episode in Argentina is described, historically interessant, you can even hear about real barter with grain (cars for grain), and the resulting hoarding of grain as money, envisioned by Adam Smith (near the end of the article).

https://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae6_4_8.pdf

here's the actual 5 yr copper price:

I don't like viewing bitcoin as primarily a payments-tech product. I feel the conversation has shifted largely to how bitcoin excels at executing online payments, which is true, and which I've myself pointed out to skeptics for a long time. The reality, though, is that the core proposition is control of your own money, an open ecosystem, and a mathematically known money supply (as we all appreciate). It just so happens that bitcoin is currently superior to virtually all payment networks as well, but that probably won't be the case forever. Legacy payments will probably get much better (more secure, faster, cheaper) over time, and then it should be clear that bitcoin's real distinction lies in the monetary characteristics. Perhaps ApplePay will re-shift the conversation.

yes, and it's the worst of all.  new 5 yr low.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/iron-ore-price-at-new-five-year-low/story-e6frg90f-1227053318529:

This is the error which is obvious to many here, but not many mainstream economists.

Bitcoin has enormous fundamental value because of its utility. Rapid, global, transfer of monetary value without third-party intervention, is fundamentally of value. The security of the system, through mining, and the cap on total issuance are pillars which makes the technology monetarily viable.

There is a subtlety here: the stored value of Bitcoin derives from its ability to transfer value.

Eventually Krugman will figure this out, but it will be hard to accept as he will still cling onto the inflation-is-good meme.

don't overlook a few posts up:

thanks for reminding me of them.  i usually follow them too but with what i think are all the stock mkt manipulations, i'm not sure how their stock price is reflective of what actually is going on other than entrenched Fed easing expectations or outright PPT pumping.

volume looks sick as hell and we have a lower high but what else is new considering the overall stock mkt indices looking like shit too:

the ultimate deflators deflate moar:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-09/historic-first-bank-japan-monetizes-debt-negative-rates

I think it is important to highlight both points, Bitcoin as a non-governed (and extremely secure) transfer mechanism, and the "monetary characteristics" you mention. Keep in mind that not everybody is sold on the superiority of fixed supply, or at least, not enthusiastic enough about it alone to become a supporter - but the self-determination of your own finances aspect might be what makes him or her a supporter.  I know I belong to that group.

I'm guilty of using the dreaded term. In my defense: at some point I just accepted the term to be used differently in bitcoin land.

Will try to use "growth spurt" (kind of a tongue-breaker, ain't it?) from now on.