Government out of the private sector (and the public sector for silly things like health care or insuring predatory lenders cant skirt the law or fuck the economy at large). Government IN to block privatization as long as it benefitting people who want to post videos of their cats and search for tits.

re: Google’s new server farm/power plant

If any acts of charity figured in Google’s arrival at The Dalles, they were the handouts extended to the company by local officials. The real estate deal, announced in February 2005, was delayed six months by Google’s conditions – a tax exemption, assurance of cheap energy from the BPA (The Bonnevile Power Administration, a federal agency that sells electricity from thrity-one dams and a nuclear power plant), and the city-built fiber-optic ring. The state tax breaks and the fiber-optic ring were in place by April, but bargain power could not be guaranteed. With energy prices soaring, the Bush Administration had floated the idea of privatizing the BPA, which would raise the cost of its electricity to market rates. After the conference call between Google, the BPA, and Representative Greg Walden (R., Ore.), the congressman pledged to the press that privatization would be blocked. That August, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included an estimated $85 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the energy business and left the BPA alone. Four days later, Google closed on the land. Thus, through city infrastructure, state givebacks, and federally subsidized power, YouTube is bankrolled by us.

The new Google plant will demand enough power to serve a city the size of Tacoma.

(From Harper’s) 

Share on Facebook

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.