Source: San Francisco Business Times
The current boom in the tech industry isn’t necessarily comparable to the 1990s dot-com bubble, although a downturn in high-tech would significantly hurt the Bay Area economy.
Those are some of the thoughts from John Williams, the Federal Reserve’s president in San Francisco, during a sit-down interview with the Contra Costa Times.
Williams said demand for products and services during the dot-com bubble came from companies that were a mirage. He noted the current tech boom isn’t necessarily as pervasive.
However, Williams said a burst tech bubble this time around would put a large dent in the economy, especially if the wealth of employees at companies such as Facebook and Google plummeted.
Williams said the Bay Area economy is improving dramatically with the exception of the housing industry in some outlying areas.
He noted San Francisco’s economy is “on fire,” thanks to in part to a strong real estate market.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2014/08/sf-fed-reserve-president-high-tech-boom-bubble.html