I'm curious how this is going to work with the chip and pin card requirements that are supposed to be in place by Oct 2015.

They wouldn't have to go through all the effort of setting up shell corporations in various countries and could bring money earned outside of the US back to the US to find projects, pay dividends to stock holders, etc.

They can sell more than one brand, but what's stopping someone from setting up a dealership that sells only electric cars and installs & services the home charging systems?

Tesla gets heaps of cash from selling zero emission credits to other auto manufacturers, so it isn't shy about getting "help" via governments to become profitable.

So is that why businesses are needing to run their own apprentice programs due a lack of skilled labor and vocational colleges are boasting near 100% placement rates of their graduates?

That's true with or without climate change.

Exactly. Lots of people tune things out when others start talking about "doing X for the environment". They are tired of the Chicken Little warnings and the "holier than thou" attitude that often accompanies the message. They do tend to pay attention to "doing X will save you money/make your life more comfortable/whatever".

and even if $Z-Y =0, the person still has to file a tax return with the IRS. For some that can be a significant expense and/or stress that they wouldn't have needed to endure if they were a citizen of some other nation.

and yet the number of people who are renouncing the US citizenship because of tax and other financial reasons is on the increase due to idiotic laws.

The problem is not the lack of a VAT, it is the US corporate tax rates are much higher than the rest of the industrialized world. That is why there is so many news stories about US companies buying other companies that are headquartered in countries with a lower tax rate, and then using that location for tax purposes. It's why Burger King is buying Tim Hortons. I don't see how a VAT is going to put any more pressure on offshore companies than "on-shore" companies. Or are you thinking that since the tax is included in the advertised price that they'll somehow be more competitive than they already are when it comes to pricing their products?

Low class is probably not the correct term. However, if one looks at most of the stuff churned out by the entertainment industry over the last 30-40+ years, the perception is that people who are interested in STEM subjects are the "unpopular or weird kids". The underlying tone is that these people are not normal and should be avoided or mocked.

If CS does become a core subject for US high schools, I'm sure that most of the schools will do just as good of a job as they are doing with other STEM subjects. I'm sure university CS educators are just going to love that!

The question that I have is: can the methane from these seeps be captured and then be used for fuel?

Linux is certainly a hell of a lot better than using Windows and a terminal emulator to sign into some server. At the next job, everyone used Windows 3.1 with Procomm to sign into an overloaded SCO Unix machine. That was certainly a change from having an SGI Indy on my desk. But they paid better.

Yeah, for about as long as it takes to fill up my car with fuel and then use the restroom..about 10-15 minutes.