Even those within the AI industry have been very anxious about the technology. Worries about its potential to create destabilizing job losses, or rogue AI that could lead to human extinction. But for all their anxiety, they missed the thing that's become the most publicly salient: how upset people would be about data centers. Data center construction has been happening for a long time, and it used to be relatively uncontroversial. In fact, cities and states would often design their tax code to incentivize data center construction. On this episode, we speak with independent writer and Substacker Jasmine Sun, who recently traveled to Wisconsin and Michigan to report about the communities and activists trying to stop development, what the pushback is really all about and what future developers will have to do in order to be welcomed in. See Odd Lots Live in LA September 2026 https://events.bloombergevents.com/event/ODDLOTSLA/summary Chapters: 00:00:00 - Tracy’s TV Show Idea vs Eddington 00:00:44 - Podcast Introduction and The Data Center NIMBY Problem 00:05:43 - Jasmine Sun Introduction 00:06:09 - The Data Center Road Trip 00:08:29 - Deindustrialization and the Data Center Buildout 00:10:29 - Electoral Impact of Data Centers 00:12:29 - Anti-Data Center Activists 00:15:22 - Tax Politics Over Data Centers 00:21:29 - Local Government Power Asymmetry Issues 00:23:57 - Labor and Construction Worker Perspectives 00:27:33 - Migrant Workers and Labor Frictions 00:30:23 - Local Economic Impact 00:31:12 - General Impacts of Industrial Development 00:33:54 - The AI Skepticism Factor 00:35:45 - Political Solutions and Business Bribes 00:39:00 - Global Implications 00:40:03 - China Comparison 00:41:26 - State-Level Moratoriums 00:42:43 - AI Industry's Misplaced Anxiety 00:45:11 - Current AI Industry Fears 00:47:32 - Conclusion 00:51:12 - Closing Credits Watch Bloomberg Vodcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0MS0Tqk_zQl1LVVTdWuH2Di Watch more Odd Lots episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0OJbRzA6nWybYiThLJd_ouz Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway analyze the weird patterns, the complex issues and the newest market crazes. Join the conversation every Monday and Thursday for interviews with the most interesting minds in finance, economics and markets. Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BloombergPodcasts Check out more Odd Lots: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0MuA6M0zkZyy-99-qc87wKV Get the Odd Lots newsletter: https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/oddlots And for all things Odd Lots, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots #Investing #Markets #Finance #Bloomberg #Podcast #OddLots Visit us: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts For coverage on news, markets and more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video Visit our other YouTube channels: Bloomberg Television: https://www.youtube.com/@markets Bloomberg Originals: https://www.youtube.com/bloomberg