If this post was written 3 or 4 years ago I might be inclined to agree, but with elastic compute, REST, HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, JSON, decent modern browsers and NoSQL databases we really are in (or are very close to) a pretty good place IMO. If the OP is complaining that he needs to know a lot of technologies to construct a website... well, I think that is the nature of the beast and falls out of the de-coupled nature of web-apps.
Actually, I have the feeling that, just by listing the number of technologies/languages/protocols that you now need to understand before coding any non-trivial application, you're arguing for me :)
err.. other than perhaps jQuery, I don't see how any of your examples refute what the OP is stating. To stay current with modern web development (such as the technologies you listed), developers need to continually improve the breadth and depth of their knowledge.
The OP states that web dev is overly complicated and broken. I counter that modern tools are far from being broken, and are infact lightyears ahead of what was available only 3 or 4 years ago. Not a refutation per se, but a counterpoint.
* elastic compute - easier - no need to worry about hardware
* REST - easier - no need to worry about WSDL and XML
* HTML5, CSS3 - agreed powerful standards to create create UIs
* jQuery - much easier than hand-rolling
* JSON - easier and lighterweight than XML
* decent modern browsers - improved standards adherence, so easier and quicker to write for multiple browsers
* NoSQL databases - easier to work with (no ORMs), quicker to set-up (no schema) than relational dbs
