Top all-time · #269
Wolf Street
Personal blog · wolfstreet.comeconomicsbusiness
Wolf Street is a personal blog at wolfstreet.com about economics and business. Since 2014, 182 different Hacker News readers have linked it 410 times, most often “Today's Unicorns have bigger and longer losses than Amazon, Still No Turnaround”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 1 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers cite Wolf Richter's charts and data for economics, housing, debt, and market bubbles. Commenters use his posts as supporting evidence in arguments.
- Recommended for · 1 comments
- One commenter calls Wolf Richter a good blog to read alongside calculatedriskblog for making sense of the economy.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /2019/12/05/what-worries-me-about-hedonic-quality-adjustments-cpi/4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-08-27
- Today's Unicorns have bigger and longer losses than Amazon, Still No Turnaround4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-07-05
- Pump and Dump: How To Rig the IPO Market with $20M3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-08-29
- /2019/11/06/whats-behind-the-feds-bailout-of-the-repo-market/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-11-07
- How Can WeWork with $1.8B in Revenue Lose $1.9B? Here's How3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-03-26
- San Francisco House Prices Drop Back to 2019 as Tech Jobs Evaporate3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-12-29
- /2021/03/11/house-price-inflation-in-cpi-is-of-course-baloney-but-it-accounts-for-1-4-of-total-cpi/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-03-13
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-04-14
- Tesla is just another mid-size automaker amid competition thats eating its lunch2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-01-03
- The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America: “House-Price Inflation” by City2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-05-11
What Hacker News says?
> morphed from things around consumer harm to a new focus on harm to other ... businesses. As far as I know, it is actually the focus on "consumer harm" that is, well was, the new thing, introduced in the 1980s under Reagan, and it largely gutted antitrust law. And that was exactly the purpose. For much of that history, including the seminal breakup of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1911, the ruling antitrust…
Comment linking /2021/08/14/antitrust-bombshells-in-the-fine-print-executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/
on “Googlespeak – How Google limits thought about antitrust”Submitted Uber Gets Run Over by Its Own Subprime Auto Leases as a story · 220 points
HN discussionCash transactions over 10,000 lakh are illegal in India [1]. Spain, France and Greece have all recently introduced limits [2]. Germany [3] has tried to introduce similar limits but have failed (so far). Australia's introducing a limit soon [4]. [1] https://babatax.com/cash-transaction-limit-in-india-cash-pay... [2] https://wolfstreet.com/2017/01/28/europe-limits-on-cash-tran... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/…
Comment linking /2017/01/28/europe-limits-on-cash-transactions-war-on-cash/
on “Bitcoin is a disaster”Submitted House Prices Drop Again in San Francisco and Silicon Valley as a story · 167 points
HN discussionThat sounds like a way to lose a lot of money. Fracking in the US is heavily leveraged and often running at a loss: http://wolfstreet.com/2015/07/21/its-happening-debt-is-teari... ...and that's before you take into account the massive cost of shipping it across an ocean. By contrast Russian gas is already very profitable and shipped through a pre-existing network of pipelines to Italy. Even if the numbers work now i…
Comment linking /2015/07/21/its-happening-debt-is-tearing-up-the-fracking-revolution/
on “Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money”Submitted Inventory of Homes for Sale Is Rising in Silicon Valley and San Francisco as a story · 153 points
HN discussionMedian age of cars in the US is ~12 years, but has trended up since 1970 when it was ~6 years, which I assume is due to more reliable and durable vehicles.[1] 25% of cars are 16+ years old.[2] So by 2051, you'd expect 25% of cars to still be on the road. For light trucks, the average age was 19 years old.[2] [1] https://wolfstreet.com/2018/08/21/average-age-of-cars-trucks... [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/28/25per…
Comment linking /2018/08/21/average-age-of-cars-trucks-vehicles-by-household-income-vehicle-type/
on “California to Require All New Vehicles Be Zero-Emission by 2035”Submitted US Treasuries Have Become Unappetizing for Foreign Central Banks and Governments as a story · 152 points
HN discussionTesla has roughly 0.3% VIO TOTAL in the US (taking global statistics into account it's barely measurable), and a fraction of that fraction are actually using FSD on a regular basis - so I would sure hope they kill "a lot fewer people". https://wolfstreet.com/2021/12/13/vehicles-in-operation-and-...
Comment linking /2021/12/13/vehicles-in-operation-and-registrations-in-2021-by-automaker-and-segment-wheres-tesla/
on “Tesla seeks to guard crash data from public disclosure”Submitted Amazon to Close 4 of Its 5 US Call Centers, Shifts to Work-from-Home as a story · 130 points
HN discussion> Are you serious? I am > You can massively criticize Bitcoin and still invest in it, precisely because you understand the risk But that degree of complex thought seems impossible to most geeks: for them, things are either good or bad. It's a very black and white thinking. > Sorry, but what hubris? The belief that my opinions about a technology are better than the market evaluation of said technology is just hubris.…
Comment linking /2021/02/28/the-big-buy-hype-bitcoin-casino/
on “Bitcoin Is Time”Submitted Pump and Dump: How To Rig the IPO Market with $20M as a story · 130 points
HN discussionThe Wolf of Wall St would agree with you. Although I agree with the the following article, I have taken a small position and bought the hype. My intention is to exit long before the jig is up. https://wolfstreet.com/2021/02/28/the-big-buy-hype-bitcoin-c...
Comment linking /2021/02/28/the-big-buy-hype-bitcoin-casino/
on “Bitcoin Is Time”Submitted Never Have I Seen So Much Fake Unemployment and Jobs Data by the Bureau of Labor as a story · 115 points
HN discussionThis is probably better evidence than any public filing https://wolfstreet.com/2025/09/01/office-cmbs-delinquency-ra...
Comment linking /2025/09/01/office-cmbs-delinquency-rate-spikes-to-record-11-7-much-worse-than-financial-crisis-peak-multifamily-delinquencies-also-spike/
on “Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office”Submitted Working from home is here to stay as a story · 109 points
HN discussionTop advertiser Procter & Gamble, competitor to Unilever and likewise an owner of many distinct brands, has been very vocal about the sorry state of digital advertising [1], threatening to drastically cut spending [2] on ad networks that made it difficult to gauge ROI. When in 2017 they cut spending on Facebook [2], they noticed no corresponding drop in sales, leading them to conclude that the spending they cut was p…
Comment linking /2017/07/28/procter-gamble-slashed-digital-ad-spending-what-happened-next/
on “Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Google over 'toxic content'”Submitted After Slashing 33% of Workers in 6 Years, Railroads Complain of Labor Shortages as a story · 99 points
HN discussionThis first chart on this page [0] says differently. It seems clear that oil production fell off a cliff in 2020 because of COVID, and has slightly recovered during 2021. An article from December 2020 [1] illustrates the massive dropoff in specifically shale oil production from peak 2019. And I'd direct you to an interactive chart that shows that in Jan 2021 (the end of Trump's term), we consumed more than we produce…
on “Inflation rises to 6.8% year over year”Submitted Last Time It Was This Crazy, the Stock Market Crashed as a story · 79 points
HN discussionThe market has been overvalued and manipulated for years. Even Apple took out billions in loans for stock buybacks.[0] Boeing took out $43 billion in loans for stock buybacks[1] instead of investing in planes, QA and employees. Everyone knew this was a stock bubble caused by record low interest rates. COVID-19 is the pin that woke everyone up. [0] https://9to5mac.com/2019/09/05/apple-is-borrowing/ [1] https://wolfst…
Comment linking /2020/03/11/boeing-crashes-as-43-billion-in-past-share-buybacks-turn-into-existential-threat/
on “S&P 500 triggers 15-minute trading halt for the second time this week”Submitted Blockchain Stocks Collapse by 40% to 90% as a story · 72 points
HN discussionGood blogs: https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/ https://wolfstreet.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are you reading to make sense of the economy?”Submitted Tesla Gets Crushed in Germany by EVs from Volkswagen, Renault, and Hyundai Group as a story · 64 points
HN discussionCompanies (and people) take on debt to invest in themselves, knowing the growth can (hopefully) pay off the debt and generate more income in the long run. Here's a fun list of companies with debt: https://wolfstreet.com/2019/07/26/the-most-indebted-companie... In the case of students, the idea is to take some debt now and pay it off with increased earnings. The problem is, those increased earnings aren't guaranteed…
Comment linking /2019/07/26/the-most-indebted-companies-in-america/
on “U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year”Submitted Dell-EMC to Lay Off 3,000 US Workers After Requesting 5,000 H-1B Visas as a story · 64 points
HN discussionAnd look at Toronto as well. A similar scheme has probably been used everywhere... https://wolfstreet.com/2019/03/21/billions-in-toronto-real-e...
Comment linking /2019/03/21/billions-in-toronto-real-estate-bought-anonymously-with-funds-of-unknown-origin/
on “Amsterdam's Plan: If You Buy a Newly Built House, You Can't Rent It Out”Submitted Big Banks Are All Over Blockchain as a story · 62 points
HN discussion1) Initially 2) Absolutely 3) False. Consumer spending on non durable goods is still rising. Disposable income is still available. Durable goods spending exploded after COVID. https://wolfstreet.com/2024/08/30/our-drunken-sailors-are-at...
Comment linking /2024/08/30/our-drunken-sailors-are-at-it-again-not-at-all-in-the-mood-for-a-slowdown-or-a-recession/
on “How economical is your local Taco Bell?”Submitted Our Dental Insurance Sent Us “Free” Internet-Connected Toothbrushes as a story · 57 points
HN discussion
