Whataburger Day -- July 4, 2022

Trending on my twitter feed this a.m.: Whataburger. 

• Texas: Whataburger
• California: In 'N Out
• no contest

Oil: it may be a holiday in the US ... but ...

• WTI: up 0.67%; up 73 cents; trading at $109.20
• Brent: up similarly; trading at $112.60

Tesla:

• shutting down for two weeks in Berlin
• link here;
  
• re-tooling
• can't get the necessary hiring

German wind: Nordex closes the last German wind blade factory -- uneconomic

• Germany wants to double wind installations in the year ahead

California:

• link here;
• state gasoline tax increases by 3 cents from 51 cents to 54 cents
• the state will send upwards of $1,000 to residents to help cover the cost of gasoline
• California's average gasoline price: $6.27
• average means many folks paying much more
• nationwide average: $4.84
• by the way, that $1,000-inflation relief: the funds will arrive next year.

Chips:

• South Korea's stock of chips is growing amid demand concerns; link here.
• GM continues to struggle to get enough chips

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The Book Page

Charlie Munger: reads 500 pages / day

His top 20 books (which I assume changes periodically); in bold, the ones I've read

• In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, Stephen Levy
• The Outsiders, William Thorndike
• Influence, Robert Cialdini
• Living Within Limits, Garrett Hardin
• The Warren Buffett Portfolio, Robert Hagstrom
• Damn Right, Janet Lowe
• Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson
• Man's Search for Meaning, Vicktor Frankl
• Models of My Life, Herb Simon
• Genome, Matt Ridley
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr, Ron Chernow
• Andrew Carnegie, Joseph Wall
• The Wealth and Power of Nations, David Landes
• Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond (over-rated, but "everyone" recommends this book)
• The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins (near the top on my list)
• Master of the Game, Connie Bruck
• Benjamin Franklin, Carl Van Doren
• The Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond (near the top of my list; way under-recommended; if you have time for only one Jared Diamond book, this is it)
• Deep Simplicity, John Gribbin (I've read several John Gribbin books; don't recall this one)
• Ice Age, John Griffin (ditto)