Moore's Law
I might have a myopic view, in that I live in the Telecommunications corridor of N. Dallas, but as I see it, the depression in this industry has been a drag on the rest of the economy. These companies invested billions on infrastructure back in the '90s, creating a lot of wealth throughout the economy. That infrastructure investment has basically become [link|http://www.usatoday.com/money/covers/2002-07-15-telecom-disaster.htm|worthless]. The impact of the Telecom depression dwarfs the losses caused by the Dot.Com bust or the demise of Y2K consulting.
Having worked in the oil business most of my life, my perspective is also a bit different. Boom and bust is the normal cycle of the free market. I've seen really good times and really suck times (right now it is in a moderate downturn). Through it all, there are some people that will survive the bad times as they will the good times. Oddly enuf, people are just as miserable when things are at the height of the boom, as they are in the rough spots. Of course, you have more options when things are good, but people tend to have a short memory and think that things are going to stay the way they are forever - hence the bad decisions during good times and the gloom during the downturns.
