This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
My interest in doing an off-grid solar system for my house is steadily increasing...
Anyone ever consider that Google could, you know... Afford to fund their own damned data center project if they want it so badly?
But why?
I once worked for a startup where the founder and the CEO was a hundred(s) millionaire, and he could have easily funded the startup on his own. And you know what? He'd be constantly pitching to investors, nonstop. And when the other investors lost confidence, he closed the business.
It's a matter of principle for many of these people. You don't ever want to risk your own money unless there is no other choice. It doesn't matter if you can afford it. The question is why? If I can spend your money why would I spend my own? It makes no sense.
These billionaires will spend our money, time, dreams, energy indefinitely, if they can. Only if there is an absolute and absolutely unbypassable barrier that prevents them from even trying would they stop. They won't ever volunteer to stop.
Yep. When the business loses, it's not their money, but when there are profits, it's suddenly all theirs.
hundred(s) millionaire
Officially hectomillionaire, as hecto is the prefix for a hundred times but often you also see centimillionaire, but centi is actually 1/100 so technically not correct.
It’s why they stay billionaires and millionaires. Spending others money
~~Socialism~~ Silicon Valley is great until you run out of other people’s money.
A tick can't suck it's own blood.
Entergy is lying through their teeth about the whole ordeal. Claiming the data center would not impact rates while fighting like hell to suppress the details of their deal with Google.
At the same time, they are currently pitching a full rate restructuring to the Arkansas Public Service Commission which will absolutely increase rates. Especially for small businesses.
Sarah Sanders administration also bears some responsibility for this bullshit. After Ted Thomas resigned as PSC chairman in 2022, the governors office began working hard to make the PSC much more friendly to utilities and much less friendly to rate payers.
In some ways, this is Arkansas voters having the day they voted for. Ya'll wanted a governor who was "pro business" (aka pro corruption) and now you've got a PSC -- which is supposed to advocate for ratepayers -- that just rubber stamps rate increase requests.
These documents were supposed to stay secret.
Entergy sued local newspapers, trying to keep its deal with Google confidential. The suit failed; the news is out. Entergy plans to hike West Memphis ratepayers' utility bills by ~$6 each month for the next 20 years, all to fund Google's new datacenter.
Kinda sounds like a paying-the-electric-bill strike is in order.
Or a few well-placed rifle bullets in the power transformers that feed the datacenter.
The funny thing if they were using that money to build utilities / buildings for the community to use - that could be applauded.
But they are taking money to pay for a for profit company, that will provide for profit services, that will disturb locals for profit.
What else is valued around $6 USD:
SPOILER
Surely the data centres should pay for their utilities including electricity!
Not when you have a Free Market™ sprinkled with lots of Freedom™. And don't call me Shirley.
I had the fish
That's the neat part, they generally do pay for "their" electricity, but there isn't enough electricity for them to do that so power plants and infrastructure expansion must happen and they pretend that's for everyone, not just them, so they shouldn't pay for the capacity since technically they can't tell whose electricity is really whose.
It's a pretty broken model in this scenario.
That is so fucked up. Why are WE paying for that??? Imagine having a grocery store open and they increase your utilities because there's a store now using electricity. Or a tire shop opens up.
MFera need to pay their own bills! This is in-fucking-sane!
Because the country is now run like a business and you my friend are just a human resource ripe for extraction.
By their logic I should be able to plug into my neighbor's electric, right? I mean, why should I spend my own money?
What a disturbing economic equation.
