Your generous donations have kept WOLF STREET free and open to all, without paywall. Thank you!!
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
The internet has changed. AI labs have stolen everyone’s work, including mine. The internet giants are trying to siphon all internet traffic to their AI bots and search bots. They’re training people to read content that AI presents them, instead of reading that content at the source. This has shifted internet traffic and advertising revenues away from open websites, such as WOLF STREET, to these AI bots and search bots run by giants.
But, but, but… You, Dear Readers, have continued to come to WOLF STREET, for the articles and comments created by humans for humans. YOU are the core of what makes this site tick. WOLF STREET can live without the internet traffic. But without you, Dear Readers, WOLF STREET would vanish. So thank you for still coming to my site!
And… your generous support has made it possible for WOLF STREET to continue operating free and open to all, not hidden behind a paywall, so that people anywhere can read the articles and comments, despite the years-long collapse in advertising revenues for small publishers, and despite the loss of a substantial portion of internet traffic.
I love this job in my little corner of the internet between the boots of the giants and AI, and part of what I love is keeping the articles and comments available without paywall to everyone who is willing to go past AI, and I want to keep it that way.
Thank you for coming to WOLF STREET, thank you for your many comments, and thank you for your generous support over the years!! Many of you donate throughout the year. Many of you donate year after year. Thank you!!!
There are 4 ways to donate:
1. Zelle (if you use it): fast and free for both of us. Please contact me at [email protected] to get my Zelle email.
If you donated via Zelle to Wolf Street in the past: nothing has changed, same Zelle email as last time.
2. Credit card via PayPal: The “Donate” button takes you to WOLF STREET’s PayPal page. You do not need an account with PayPal. If it asks you to set up an account, back out and try again.
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Thank-you gift: a WOLF STREET mug if you donate $100 or more:
I will send you one of our second-generation 12-oz glass mugs (see photo below) to thank you for your very generous donation of $100 or more if your address is in the US, and if you would like a mug.
San Francisco artist Erika “Kitten” Lopez created the wraparound art on the mug: a funny wolf howling the WOLF STREET dictum, “Nothing Goes to Heck in a Straight Line.”
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Thank you!!
Wolf Richter
Enjoy reading WOLF STREET and want to support it? You can donate. I appreciate it immensely. Click on the mug to find out how:
Done. Pleased to be a member of the Wolf pack.
Thank you!
Wolf Street provide better real financial information that a subscription to the WSJ. Let’s all support Wolf.
Donated with appreciation and thanks. Your professionalism and insights are exceptional, and your patience in replying to reader comments with humor is remarkable.
Reading Wolf Street from here in the lovely jungle in Laos and just donated!
Been a monthly contributor for a while now. I enjoy the articles and to be honest, even though I majored in Econ at Georgetown U., Wolf’s articles are frequently beyond my level of understanding.
Which brings me to AI.
I frequently upload Wolf’s articles into AI to help me unpack and understand the broader impact they have on my investments.
It’s better than having to suffer through some of the replies you knuckleheads make. 😂
Although, I do enjoy it when Wolf takes some of them to the woodshed.
Thank you, Gabe!
PayPal “too busy” to accept my donation!!!! Later.
Lewis H
I have followed you a long time and donated $100 every year for your excellent analysis and commentary. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
I consider PayPal a criminal corporation. PayPal canceled my business account after years of use. Their rationale was total BS. I closed my personal account and swore never to do business with them. Switch to Stripe which charges 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction whereas PayPal charges 3.49% + 49 cents. Please work with ethical companies.
Zelle is free for both parties, is instant, and is email-based.
Also I just noticed your line: “whereas PayPal charges 3.49% + 49 cents. ”
That is for PayPal checkout only, which I don’t do. I use PayPal as a platform for credit/debit card payments, and for those payments, the fee is 2.99% + $0.49, not much different from Stripe.
The problem with Stripe is that you as a subscriber cannot cancel recurring payments to a subscription. If the seller of the subscription will not cancel, then your only recourse is to contest the credit card charge via your bank or CC company.
Sent. Thanks again for your hard work. Definitely a site worth supporting. -Jeff
💯
What I’m wondering about with AI more than anything is the off-balance sheet financing. WSJ had a story in August that $3 trillion in liabilities had been moved off the balance sheets of the AI giants. Here’s the regular link (there’s paywall, sorry, and I don’t have gift link): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/why-big-techs-ai-spending-is-3-trillion-higher-than-it-seems-e1067bb2
NYT has a commentary on the general subject of an AI crash today (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/opinion/ai-bubble-financial-crisis-lehman.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LVE.aGal.4666ElBs2t44&smid=url-share
Lots to unpack.
It’s not going to be a second Financial Crisis (because banks are only marginally involved). The model is the Dotcom Bust (Nasdaq -78%).
Arigato sensei.
I’ve learned a lot from your website and I recommend to friends. I also lived in Japan, 13 years in Tokyo. Wife is Japanese, daughter born there in 2010. Definitely an odyssey.
Got it 🤣. Thank you!
Have donations on auto-pay, no one covers economics better then wolfstreet!
AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says
But does not using AI incur a competitive disadvantage…
How so? AI is useless.
A company in the 90s that refused to adopt email surely incurred a disadvantage against rivals that did.
Even if those rivals couldn’t point to email adoption as causing a financial payoff.
Some technologies just raise the floor for staying in business, rather than generate a financial return, because everyone adopts it and that competes away any additional profit from the tech.
Yes, I agree, the economy is very big now.
As I refuse to use Paypal (too invasive, forced artificial unnecessary currency exchanges), so no option from Europe. Which is a pity, I would like to support your work. By the way, Revolut is big in Europe and now offers US business accounts, which would allow you to offer european style IBAN account number (or direct Revolut transfer).
I’d also like to have a better option for donations from the EU, (and I also regularly end up with spare USD on my Revolut account), but it’s actually much harder to find a payments platform that works well for both the US and Europe than one may think, so we’ll make do.
Wolf’s angel-goofballs of the world, unite! Thank you, Wolf.
I use PayPal strictly as a payments platform so you can pay with a credit/debit card from anywhere in any currency. You do NOT need a PayPal account. Just follow the instruction in the “Tip” section. Making a payment via your credit/debit card is quick, and there are no fees for you (WOLF STREET eats all the fees).
That should allow us to use Visa’s half-decent USD/EUR exchange rates or just use Revolut’s USD account to draw funds without PayPal taking its fat slice, will look into it.
I just tried, but when Paypal refused to process the payment without giving out my phone number, I decided that I am doing it. Sorry, other payment processors can do payment without need of my phone number. I understand KYC rules, I filled in my name and address, although I doubt it is necessary for small amounts, especially if payment is electronic and thus traceable, if needed. But I am not filling Paypal spam idea database with my email or phone. That is the invasivness I hate and refuse to support.
I respect your decision to keep it simple and not provide additional options for European readers. Thank you for your great work.
Done
Done, thanks for doing this Wolf.
Chucked a few in yesterday
Wolfstreet is the only site I know of that is worth subscribing to or donating to. Incidentally, it also has the only comment section I would ever dream of posting something on.
Wolf – thanks for your dedication and great reporting / info!
@wolf – I have been a contributor for two years now. Thank you for all the well researched articles and all the chats with commenters. I have learned far more from you than the so called “mainstream news”. Please try to not get acquired by any big news firm or such.
Thanks,
A citizen of USSA
(S = Socialism for the rich circa 2008)
Done. Thanks for all you do, Wolf. 👊🏼
Thank you everyone for your generous support of this little corner of the internet!!! It wouldn’t work without you ❤️
Made my annual donation. Thanx for all the great work you do. Concise, in-depth, data-driven analysis sans all the politics and AI.