For instance, Cisco Systems, which supplies Internet and network-related hardware, has shown tremendous growth in recent years. The economy, meanwhile serves society, which cares about unemployment rates and government services and the like. The layoffs by companies like Lucent, DaimlerChrysler and WorldCom, etc, reflect efforts by the companies to boost profitability. Wall Street responds to such layoffs with an increase in stock price. Business needs infusions of capital and grows best where there are bursts of energy, where market forces weed out what will work from what will not work.
Failure is part of the growth process.
That an inordinate amount of money was lost in the dot-com boom was a result of private investors of all stripes looking for robust returns. The economy of the '90s chirped along nicely, which was good for the economy, but it did not serve the boom or bust needs of business. Like other industries, the Internet eventually will find its own level. For lawmakers in Montpelier and Washington, the struggle to serve both the economy and business has created the usual dilemma, but with its own character. For both governments, there are budget surpluses projected well into the future which could be ripe for tax relief, versus the specter of a slowing economy.