Giving Away the Collective Iowa "Farm" for the Google Server Farm
There's a googolplex of reasons why the state of Iowa is gushing over a new Googleplex being built within its borders. There are about 100 articles/posts hitting the wires every hour about it. Here's a post at InfoWorld on it.
But has anyone done the math on this project with the tax credits, sales tax exemptions, and alleged jobs this facility will produce? Does Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) have so much "star power" that legislators are willing to sell their souls to the "do no evil" Googolopoly? I wonder if some GAAP accounting applied properly would yield that the cost to operate and build this facility is net zero for the next 20 years...just in time for an exit?
I'm going to head out to Council Bluffs and do some investigative reporting a la Stone Phillips to get real resident reactions, etc.
Are you nervous about Google and their continuing global domination...or are you concerned with them terraforming (or Googleforming) another colony here in the heartland? Or are you just happy to have your city in the paper in a positive way? More reports from the field to come.
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