During the mid to late 1990s a small sector of the high technology industry that dealt with the Internet boomed out of all proportion to its long-term value to society.   (Though not, apparently, out of proportion to the ambitions of a few wealthy individuals.)  Internet, or dotcom, entrepreneurs even claimed that the laws of the stock market no longer applied to their businesses. Some people during the dotcom boom made billions of dollars in a few years.  Thousands of twenty year-old millionaires were created.

Dotcom businesses were growing so fast that all kinds of incentives were offered to lure workers into the companies.  Thus, we had private espresso machines for employees, massage therapists on site at the office, caviar served for normal staff meetings, $1800 desk chairs, salaries in the 6-figure range for people who had not finished high school, signing bonuses, pets at work, three gourmet meals per day served at the office at company expense and expense accounts for toys, Halloween costumes, video games, model railroads.  Old corporate dress codes were abolished and programmers came to work in their beach clothes, barefoot, with Mohawks, tattoos and piercings. Some employees even came to work naked.

In return, employees gave their lives to the company.  They were told, "80 hour weeks are not an imposition; 90 to 100 hours is expected."  Employees too tired to drive home slept under their desks.

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