Whatever this is, it isn't a repeat of the late 90s. The term "bubble" doesn't even mean anything except that alot of people, many of whom aren't even investing

Whatever this is, it isn't a repeat of the late 90s. The term "bubble" doesn't even mean anything except that alot of people, many of whom aren't even investing or selling short, assume that the prices are way higher than they should be. The 90s was a typical gold-rush type of scenario where no one knew what anything was worth, and so investment continued until someone figured out that there was no one everyone could make money even if the entire mountain was made of gold and started betting against the herd. Going by the cyclical pattern, we're overdue for a recession in the U.S. However, no one knows how severe it could be, especially considering that the "recovery" from the '08 meltdown was tepid at best. As far as tech investing goes, the best way to make money is to back a number of good looking horses and hope the wins pay for the losses. Which is the same as it always was. If you're smart, you'll also diversify in case something does happen to cause the entire industry to take a dive. However, short of a major quake taking down most of SV, the number of different ways businesses are trying to make money means that, IMO, it's more difficult for one event to take them all down, unlike 1999.