This is completely insane
These States are effectively helping finance a significant portion of data centers' costs through tax exemptions
What's wild is that these data centers generate basically zero economic stimulus for the local communities they're in, and no taxable revenue. So why all of the state-level incentives to build things that will pay back zero dividends to the states?
Corporate welfare is why. Eat the fucking rich.
Nah after the data center is built you need like a dozen guys there for smarthands.
But the rest of the jobs will be in India.
Okay, sure... But a dozen IT salaries doesn't even come close to justifying multi-hundred-million dollar state subsidies. Local governments will be lucky to see a five-figure return on that investment in the form of employee W2s.
And meanwhile the local cost of power and water is going to skyrocket in the area... all so 12 guys in a community of 1000s can make 70k a year? Unreal.
Yeah that was a quite tongue-in-cheek comment. Surprised it didn't transmit so well.
As i said, it's beneficial to the economy if people burn down a datacenter. Less power and water consumption and wastage, less space used by useless tech that only based on promises and that we don't really need, more RAM for consumer tech that do actually get taxed.
... This is the totally standard mode of anything substantial bring built in the US, for my entire lifetime.
Just go look at how much corpo cocksucking goes on in the recent history, anytime any corpo wants to open a new large branch or is thinking about relocating their head quarters.
The states just line up and beg to be fucked.
Or, even just like... a mall, a big box store, local governments do the same shit.
Corporations are absurdly subsidized by the government, in so many ways it may actually drive you insane if you try to look into the totality of it.
Everything is a handout to corpos.
This is why we are all poor and miserable now, capitalists captured the government.
Privatize gains, socialize losses.
It doesn't matter at all how many studies have been done that show that this level of government accommodation just destroys the longterm basis of the local economy, causes so many insanely negative externalities.
'I got the thing built here so I created jobs, vote for me, dumbass!'
It goes way back in computer tech. Both Intel and AMD rose up on government contracts, including military ones. And to my vague knowledge the US government was pouring money onto the Silicon Valley before it grew to be the hub it is now.
It is socialism for the rich unions for the dogs and scraps for the rest if you are lucky. Capitalism is exponential.
Nothing new here. Corporations shop around for the dumbest localities who give the most tax benefits. See also Foxconn in Wisconsin. Or the time Amazon was looking for a new headquarters.
FUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK I hate capitalism
But think of the jobs these datacenters create! A datacenter in Columbus, Ohio that got $4.5 million tax break will provide a whopping 10 (ten) jobs!
WTF. Would be easier to give 10 random people $450,000, but what do I know.
"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
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