Four quick thoughts now that the elections are over, from a recovering banker. 1. The equity indexes fell immediately at the open today, and remain down over 2% on the day.  Do not let any talking head from the financial-industrial-infotainment industry try to suggest that this is in response to Obama’s election.  Every trader on

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.

No Dry Wells in the Eagle Ford Drop any illusions you may have brought about wildcatting speculators like Daniel Day Lewis’ Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood hoping to get-rich-or-die-trying to strike oil, because the Eagle Ford Shale doesn’t work that way.  We quickly get the sense that major capital and major expertise is

There’s a Mad Max quality to the back roads and blue highways of South Texas these days. I’d been hearing about this strange phenomenon almost since I arrived in Texas 3 years ago, but only recently did I get an invitation to see it for myself. I hopped in a car with a Texas State