Most Valley workers are not independently wealthy - not when 9 out of 10 of their employers fail. And the notion that dot coms are suddenly hitting the wall is just plain laughable. Of the 100 largest companies in the U.S. in 1900, only one, General Electric, is still in business. Dot coms are startups and startups mainly fail. It has always been thus, and it will likely always be thus.
Lots can go wrong - and does.
Great ideas get sunk almost daily because people can't get it together to agree on a business path, because they're not experienced enough, because they don't market well, because they market well but have lousy products, because they don't understand customers, because they didn't really check the market out, because they charge too much, because they charge too little, because they give their product away free, because they didn't give their product away free and for at least 100,000 other reasons. And then there's things that were lousy ideas to start with. Look at any venture capitalists' list of funded companies and this will become painfully obvious. And sometimes, great idea, great people, and great execution hit bad luck and disappear anyway. Hope springs eternal, I guess.