American families are being forced to choose between keeping the lights on and putting food on the table — and Big Tech's insatiable appetite for electricity is a major culprit. Data center expansion across the nation has already driven electricity prices up 13% over the past year, sparking what could become the next great populist revolt.
The Hidden Cost of the AI Revolution
Silicon Valley executives and their media allies keep promising that artificial intelligence will deliver medical breakthroughs, productivity gains, and boundless prosperity. But for millions of hardworking Americans, the only thing AI has delivered so far is a bigger utility bill.
These massive data centers — sprawling facilities packed with servers running 24/7 — are consuming electricity at rates that would have seemed impossible just a decade ago. A single large data center can use as much power as a small city, and tech giants are racing to build hundreds more to fuel their AI ambitions.
"Voters are starting to push back, and they should. Why should American families subsidize Big Tech's profits?"
Working Families Pay the Price
While billionaire tech CEOs celebrate their stock prices and tout AI's potential, it's middle-class and working-class Americans who are absorbing the real costs. Fixed-income seniors, young families struggling with Biden-era inflation, and small business owners are all seeing their electricity bills climb to unprecedented levels.
The energy grid, already strained by misguided green energy policies that have shuttered reliable coal and natural gas plants, simply cannot keep up with demand. Instead of building new baseload power generation, utilities are passing costs directly to consumers.
A Populist Reckoning Is Coming
President Trump's victory in 2024 proved that Americans are fed up with being told to sacrifice for the benefit of coastal elites. The data center crisis could become yet another flashpoint in the ongoing battle between everyday citizens and the powerful interests that expect them to foot the bill.
Communities across the country are already organizing against new data center projects, demanding that tech companies pay their fair share rather than socializing costs onto ratepayers. Local officials who once welcomed these facilities with open arms are now facing angry constituents demanding accountability.
If Big Tech wants its AI revolution, perhaps it's time they build the power plants to support it — instead of expecting American families to sacrifice so Silicon Valley can keep getting richer.