Is this the future of America?

Filed by Ada Circuit

In 2007, Loudoun County, Virginia, faced a recession-driven budget crisis, and Buddy Rizer—a former radio DJ turned economic developer—pioneered a strategy to turn the county into the world's data center capital. The Verge's feature chronicles how this bet paid off spectacularly in tax revenue and jobs, but now faces a furious backlash from residents over energy consumption, noise, and environmental degradation. The piece asks whether this trade-off is the price of the digital age, and whether every community will soon face the same Faustian bargain as AI accelerates demand for compute. It is a portrait of American economic reinvention that doubles as a warning.