GOV/MIL Trump: “Communities that do not want data centers, want to be backwards and poor”

Economic FactorProponent View / PromiseCritic View / Reality
Long-Term EmploymentCreates local tech jobs and anchors digital business growth.Facilities are automated; they require few permanent staff (often under 100) and frequently import specialized workers.
Local Utility RatesHyperscalers argue they invest in new, independent clean energy to offset their footprint.Massive electricity and water demands strain local grids, which can pass infrastructure upgrade costs on to local residents.
Tax IncentivesThe long-term tax yields vastly outperform the land's previous utility.Aggressive tax breaks offered by states to lure tech companies can drain potential revenue away from schools.
Opportunity CostsTransforms "empty" land into high-value technological hubs.Projects often compete for prime agricultural farmland that future generations may need for food production.
 
That explains why communities are backwards and poor from the earliest of times until today.

They want to be backwards and poor.
Who knew?

But now the altruists are going to bestow advancement and riches on us.
It’ll be a Nantucket Sleigh Ride.
Hang on for the ride of your life.
 
The reason me and my neighbors don't want one built about 5 miles from my house is that the town board was sneaky and had the whole deal done and signed off under a non-disclosure agreement with Google before anybody in the area knew anything about it.

We don't want the noise, we don't want the eyesore in a quiet, peaceful rural area, the neighbors don't want the devaluation of their property, we don't want the watershed messed up with half-a-hundred acres of pavement in a formerly rural, raw land and wetland area next to a protected native trout stream.

And lastly? We wonder what the board is going to do next to sell us out.
 
I have a nice little house. It’s 20 years old in a quiet neighborhood. The two lots across the street were vacant with a nice clump of trees. And the other side of the lots was a little pasture with goats and sheep and sheep dogs.

And then the evil developer started building two houses. Right there. Outside my front door.
They got no brick! They got retaining walls on both sides. The got smaller yards than mine. People park in front right at the end of my driveway.

And they got every right to. And I got no say in the matter.

About all I can do is replace the roof (done), paint the exterior (done), improve drive up appeal (done), make the lawn look nice (done), remodel bath (done) . . . And sell if the new neighbors suck.
 
Have any of you actually figured out what the data centers are for? They are NOT to make you rich. They are NOT to reduce your taxes.

I'll give you a clue: data centers are for collecting data. What data? weather? bird migrations? solar flares?

Data centers are for collecting information, all information, about you! They will track everything you do and decide if you are allowed to keep doing those things. They will track what you eat, who your friends are, where you work, what is on your phone, what your TV cameras see in your home, all your emails and posts on line, how many people are in your home every minute of the day & night, what your Fitbit is reading, etc.
 
WalknTrot said:
The reason me and my neighbors don't want one built about 5 miles from my house is that the town board was sneaky and had the whole deal done and signed off under a non-disclosure agreement with Google before anybody in the area knew anything about it.

We don't want the noise, we don't want the eyesore in a quiet, peaceful rural area, the neighbors don't want the devaluation of their property, we don't want the watershed messed up with half-a-hundred acres of pavement in a formerly rural, raw land and wetland area next to a protected native trout stream.

And lastly? We wonder what the board is going to do next to sell us out.
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If a COMPLETELY benign business wanted to build near me, I'd be all for the devaluation of my property, and the corresponding lowering of my property taxes.

But, I have to question whether a data center, the largest proposed one in my state might be built only a couple of miles from me, is benign. My city voted for a one-year moratorium on new proposals, but the first one was already done, with that sneaky non-disclosure agreement between the company and the city.
 
sssarawolf said:
He has been right about a lot but not this.
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I think his real estate developer instinct kicked in. He sees undeveloped land plus the boom for building data centers and sees an opportunity to make money. And he assumes everybody wants to make money, so those who oppose data centers are dumb and want to stay poor.

I think Trump never really spent any time getting to live in the real country or a small town, not the little slices of urban life in the country he's experienced in his life. Too bad he didn't spend a year in the Dakotas as a cowboy the way Teddy Roosevelt did. He'd understand when the rural population say no to such projects.

And FWIW, the GOP candidate running against Shapiro for PA governor stepped in it the same way. "We have all this space in PA's rural counties. There's room for hundreds of data centers, more than Ohio."
 
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