"Within walking distance of Stanford, where the economist who coined the term "conspicuous consumption" once taught, a dark reality is playing out. Having already gone from boom to bust, many dot-commers are coming to something worse. Unable to make payments, they are selling luxury cars, canceling home renovations and returning jewelry by the box."

Its hard to feel sorry for someone who has to sell their Lotus in order to make ends meet. Markoff could have talked about how the regional downturn has impacted the middle and lower classes, but would you care? Everyone in Silicon Valley is rich, right?

Silicon Valley Without Trimmings