The Peculiar Ruins of the New Economy And so just like a used-bong sale in 1978 or a yellow-tie auction in 1990, scenes like this, replicated across the country, bring a psychological decade to a sobering close. What started out as the biggest revolution in communications since Gutenberg ends up as a giant yard sale. Ironists will note that the technological revolution, which was supposed to move us beyond materialism, certainly is producing a lot of junk. Schadenfreuders, on the other hand, are now getting more pleasure out of the dot-com collapse than the dot-commers ever got out of their ascent.