I personally thinkthat the future is xHTML and CSS in a tableless code. I also think that people need to take into consideration different browsers, especially mobile ones which are becoming moreand more popular.

On the subject of "Div-Soup" I understand how people get into that area when starting out, and I think that it's acceptable in the beginner stages. But as a professional coder that is charging a high rate, they should really know what they are doing.