So the logical question is... just how much money is required to change this sentence "This is an exploding field." He thinks such tests could reach the clinic within 5 to 10 years. " to read ".... within 1 to 2 years"?

$4.50 is ridiculously cheap! In the UK we're currently paying £1.44 per litre for unleaded. If my maths is still good, on current exchange rates, that's $8.65 per US gallon - almost twice what you've stated you're paying. To fill the 60 litre tank in my 2001 Honda Accord it costs me approx. £86 or $137 When your gas is that expensive you might see more uptake and re-uptake of hybrid and electric technologies - or even an increase in sneaker purchases.

Oracle buys sun and then slowly shuts down OpenOffice. MS buys Skype and will slowly (probably rapidly more like) shutdown Linux support. What other useful apps are there that offer cross platform support for Linux and can be wiped out by simply buying the company? Dropbox next?

ISPs have over sold. WoW is just a game. Move along, nothing to see here.

US companies go to China because it's cheaper - a lot cheaper. Bringing the work back to the US will certainly create more US jobs, but these workers are a) much more expensive and b) the US companies that will receive all this new work won't have the same buying power as the Chinese ones. Your $40,000 SUV will soon cost you $80,000 because Ford just can't afford to make it so cheap any more. Assuming you're a US resident... do you really love it?

How far does this go? What if GM buys a bolt from a legitimate Chinese bolt manufacturer who bought the steel rod from a legitimate Chinese company who bought the raw steel from an Australian steel refinery that uses a cranky old PC with pirated Windows XP to run their invoicing software?