Internet boom 2.0 is here, starts to look bubbly

(Reuters) - The tantalizing prospect of finding the next Facebook, Groupon or Twitter is driving the biggest rush of venture capital into the Internet start-up arena since dot-com mania first boomed and then fizzled more than a decade ago.

More than $5 billion of venture capital investment flowed into young web companies globally in the first four months of the year, data from Thomson Reuters Deals Intelligence shows.

Though small compared with the boom years, the sum puts 2011 on track to be the busiest in dollar terms since 2000, when more than $55 billion was deployed to back nascent technology firms.

The latest frenzy bears some of the hallmarks of the previous web investment craze -- exuberance over "concept" start-ups that have not launched their sites and intense competition among potential backers to place bets in presumptive hot spots, such as the social media space now defined by the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn.

more http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/08/us-financial-investing-internet-idUSTRE7471UZ20110508

VC is always iffy.

A lot of that was due to the newness of the internet and the massive lack of understanding of what it was, how the public would embrace or not embrace certain aspects of it and the experimental attitude that often comes with a new frontier of communication. Thats all over now. People know a lot more about what they are doing. Now there is a pretty good knowledge of what people will actually buy, what kind of sites people will actually frequent, etc. Before, all you to do was say "world wide web" and people would invest with no understand if what was being invested in was a plausible business opportunity. Its not that way anymore.

Do I have to become a card-carrying RepubliBagger (R) to qualify for the tax breaks?

If so, then the moneybucks deal won't work for Hawkoff. We will never surrender our heritage as honorable Americans.

Happy belated Mother's Day, baby!