If there’s a Boom, how big is it really?

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, tells us in the cover article of this month’s magazine that there’s a New Boom on, and “it’s getting wild again in Silicon Valley.” The two positive graphs in his piece show off-the-chart growth in iPod sales and off-the-chart sales of its “Boom 2.0 index” which contains Google, Yahoo and others. Our guess is that if you remove Apple, Google and Yahoo from the valley, we’d be feeling pretty darn sober. And you’re left with Wired’s two other graphs, decidedly less upbeat, showing a stagnation of VC spending, and a decline in valuations for Web 2.0 companies.

Hmmm. It depends who you talk with. People here somehow involved with Web 2.0 seem energized; those who are not seem less so. Not sure if we’d call this place “wild” — yet.

Interesting graphic, though, from the National Venture Capital Association today (below). It shows how prone Silicon Valley is to boom and bust. Look at the venture capital profits. They’re much higher than the rest of the market (see S&P) when things are good, and losses are deeper when things are bad.

What do you guys think? Does this feel like a boom? We’re feeling pretty even-keeled here at SiliconBeat, or is that because we’re not running around with stock options like everyone else?