Mercury Center:

"The losers in the debacle of 2000 are part of the capitalist system. So are the winners, who made their money from greater fools. In a world where shame still had meaning, the participants in that cynical gravy chain would contemplate the carnage they helped engineer. They might even hint at regret. I'm not going to hold my breath."

Sure, everyone from VCs to journalists to investment banks got complacent, but the public has its share of responsibility for getting stuck in the Internet Wasteland. IPO SEC filings plainly stated that many of these companies didn't see profits "in the foreseeable future", so it's not exactly as if average Joe didn't know he was speculating, not investing.