Unfortunately, instead of realizing the truth people are all busy shouting to others that "Nooooo the internet doesn't go your way, it goes my way". No one will give you a proper reply. You may get some reds though. Greens from me to compensate them
For what its worth we have already agreed to add these sites to our list and we will do what we can to help. We give webmasters a replacement warranty on any bulk submission requests they place with us and if you do go belly up, is not going to affect them. But I think the question you need to ask is what are you going to put back into this community? What are you doing to secure the future of your directories? If directory masters are doing their jobs properly they provide an essential service to both Google as well as the web masters looking for back links. All we have to do is determine the real value of what is undoubtedly a high volume low value industry.
Like majority of the replies here. I also believe that it is far from over. It's just more competitive now for directory owners because more are creating niche directories, which I think is good to gain more quality links.