You can knock tech down, way down, but you can't kill it. Tech Trader Daily reported the 10 most active Nasdaq stocks lost a combined $111 billion in market cap Monday after Congress didn't pass a financial bailout bill. Epicenter says the tech slide may continue until a bailout package is passed (not likely until the House reconvenes Thursday). Apple investors freaked out, and the stock lost 17% on Monday (via Apple Insider). Google sunk below $400 for the first time since mid-2006 and could dive to $350, Silicon Alley Insider suggested. Good news: probably not today. GOOG and AAPL and the market overall started Tuesday going up. And some optimists are circling: "Could this be bargain basement time?," asks Venture Beat.

Don't get too excited. GigaOm has a page full of reasons (costlier loans, no easy exits) why Wall Street troubles are gravely hurting tech companies. Layoffs appear inevitable, says Boomtown. Silicon Alley Insider posted--then deleted--a Jacon Calacanis essay saying the collapsing economy will kill 50 to 80 percent of startups. (It's here though.) WatchMojo calls that bull and gives ten tips for surviving bad times, like: focus on revenues, reducing costs and hitting break-even. Broadstuff says the majority of startups have always failed, so where's the news? The Constant Observer says the "short runway" of limited funds might hurt "little social networking sites that don't appear to promise me all that much." Concurs /message: "How many social bookmarking apps do we need?"

Another tech casualty of the bailout mess: millions of Internet users crashed the U.S. House web site seeking to contact representatives about the bailout vote, says Data Center Knowledge. "We haven't seen this much demand since the 9-11 commission report was posted on the site in 2004," said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the House Chief Administrative Officer, told the AP.