it looks like the US techno scene is not good as all you americans would like to have it. shame, and quite unbelievable that US scene is in such a state as you told. Dustin summed it up nicely, so me as an oversea can see how it is in real and it looks it is really bad.
sometimes here it is also not the best, DJ exchanges are also common thing for almost all promoters, gig for gig, gig for money, gig for some service in advance, and so on... even i dont think our scene is now the healthiest, it is good to hear that it is not as bad as in some other countries around the globe...
at the end of a day even our scene is sometimes full of backstabbing and hate, stupid people under drugs, lazy assed DJs playing bullshit, gigs for services in advance and so on.. it is not as bad as somewhere else, thats positive..