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I participated in a RIPE training 4 years ago and according to their statistics, we were supposed to deplete the IPv4 address space during 2009. Well guess what..

The low estimates for running out of addresses are the ones that usually get quoted, but both low and high bounds on the estimate have been available for a while and while they tighten taking a midpoint has been quite stable for some time now. 4 years ago the estimates were 2009-2013. IIRC the bounds are now something like June 2011 - December 2012.

(Those who consider this to be obvious should remember that the government is involved.)

Sorry? The government (at least the DoD) is very interested in IPv6 - here's one of the top hits from Google.

The tl;dr is that they have tons of devices all over the world that would be better off not needing to be NAT'ed. Not to mention they love the possibility of enhanced security, authentication, etc as part of the protocol rather than tacked on higher in the network stack.

Well, IPv4 has a 13-field header plus options, and allows fragmentation along the whole route. Plus a header checksum.
IPv6 explicitly disallows fragmentation, has no checksum and no optional fields to check for.
Now how can that be slower than v4 ?

The explanation has to be found elsewhere. I just found this paper (from 2004) which has an interesting analysis of the cost of operating v4 and v6 networks, taking into account the price of address blocks, etc.
http://www.usipv6.com/6sense/2004/dec/02.htm

That may be a better explanation.

Um, guys, doesn't IPv6 require encryption? So as IPv6 is rolled out, and IPsec becomes the default way to go (certainly for business use), what exactly is the FCC-mandated access going to buy them?

Of course, with an administration opposed to science, it might be a small step to also oppose foundational technology like IPv6. But can they do that without creating a lot bigger fuss - what with that leaving our infrastructure open to terrorists and hackers, and impeding sale of already-engineered American products?

Basically the only reason people upgrade in the U.S. at this point is because a natural disaster