oh, allow me to clarify–!

I did not mean to sound as though I had been disagreeing with you ^.^; my comment was more intended to have a ‘yes-and’ kind of vibe~

but I really do like all that you had to say here and I still agree!

While they’re truly not stealing the electricity, what I would hope to imply is that they are nevertheless acquiring it via nefarious means–in that many of these data centers are building gas combustion generators to supplement their power usage in violation of environmental regulations, workplace safety standards, and generally all the laws that say “you can’t do that without proper documentation and licensing” etc.

So yeah–the “stolen thatch and stolen bamboo” isn’t literally stolen (like you said!) but rather just ill-gotten.

Also I have indeed noticed the way that there’s so much money being thrown around, especially the funds they’ve gotten from “investors” which are really just debt. They’re going into massive debt to pay contractors and vendors… and that cap-ex and op-ex? sometimes I wonder if that’s the real motive. Just a big stinkin’ money laundering racket to bilk people out of their savings (anyone with a managed retirement investment fund that happens to do business with these jerks) and squirrel it away on “other companies” who are “working for” them.

They AREN’T worth the effort. It’s the emperor’s new clothes all over again. The only thing they’re really actually TRYING to do, I hypothesize, is just keep everyone distracted so they can do exactly what you said they would: make themselves ‘too big to fail’ and then ride off into the sunset when the shoddy facade they propped up comes crashing down, leaving the public sector to foot the bill…