I had a conversation with a friend who ships trainloads of ‘frack-sand’ into the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas.  We talked about the Natural Gas Revolution, as well as the surprising and possibly regretful turn his life has taken, far from working in book publishing in Brooklyn.   Bryant:  Hello, my name is Bryant,

This audio interview is a continuation of an earlier interview with Shirley, in which we talked about her pawn shop, and the customer service they offer that banks rarely offer. In this portion of the interview Shirley and I talked about serving the traditionally Hispanic West Side of San Antonio, and the barriers to trying

Where can you still find great customer service in financial services?  The Pawn Shop! Michael:  Hello, my name is Mike, and I used to be a banker. Shirley:  My name is Shirley, and I’m a long-time pawn-shop owner. One of the themes of the Post-2008 Crisis world is how much people don’t like their banks.

Please click above to listen to full interview. I continue the conversation with Jim, a member of the 1% who made his career in advertising to the high-end consumer, and who has studied the stratification of America professionally.  We spoke about the problem Mitt Romney will have portraying himself as a “Job Creator,” the disappearance