Regarding micro payments to fund websites: I wouldn't pay for most sites. Not because their content is worth nothing, but because it is uncomfortable to have a counter ticking, spending more cents for each of my mouse clicks. And of course, I don't want to do through a billing UI for each new site I visit, although this could be fixed.
However, I'm willing to pay an extra $10 a month to fund content providers, up to them to share it effectively. $2e10 of advertising budget for 2e8 US internet users is about $10 / person*month, and as large proportion of it doesn't end up in the website owners' pockets, so it could even be cheaper than that.
There is a pot of gold waiting for someone who can make the idea of microtransactions palatable and transparent to the web surfer. Because it has to come, one way or the other.
In addition, all site expenditures are not equal. There are huge numbers of clickbait sites that basically spend almost nothing in content creation, and expenses are almost entirely incurred through hosting/bandwidth charges. On the other extreme are smaller sites with highly loyal reader bases who create highly useful content where the creation/research costs are substantial. It would be almost impossible for the first group to go down the nickel-and-dime/paywall route. So really, it's only when the site operators start asking for the hard coin does the real test of what the content is worth in the users' eyes start.
(Some readers actually demand a site details all their expenses exhaustively before they agree to pay for content. This may or may not be possible, or comfortable for site owners to accept as a neccessary part of the business.)
You pick a monthly budget, then you click on Flattr links when you encounter them on something you like (whether an article or a GitHub repository or whatever). Then at the end of the month your budget is split up between everyone you clicked on that month. Not sure if it'll really catch on, but I do think it's on the right track in avoiding the "ticking counter" feeling, since clicking on a Flattr link doesn't cost you anything extra, just allocates your fixed budget.
However, I'm willing to pay an extra $10 a month to fund content providers, up to them to share it effectively. $2e10 of advertising budget for 2e8 US internet users is about $10 / person*month, and as large proportion of it doesn't end up in the website owners' pockets, so it could even be cheaper than that.