A few weeks back I posted about how people are turning to yoga for comfort during the economic downturn. Apparently, now people are turning to psychics for economic advice–predictions about the stock market, that is!
Ruth La Ferla reports in her New York Times article, “Love, Jobs & 401(k)s”:

On a good day last summer, Thomas Taccetta, a stock trader, might have checked his financial charts before plotting the day’s investments. Today he is likely to check in with his psychic as well. “I’ll play the broadest index, the S.&P. 500,” Mr. Taccetta said, “and if she tells me she is getting a negative view, I will sell.” Since September, when the Dow collapsed, Mr. Taccetta, who trades for his own portfolio in Boca Raton, Fla., has talked with his psychic about once a month, roughly twice as often as a year ago. “There is no rhyme or reason to the way the market is trading,” he said. “When conditions are this volatile, consulting a psychic can be as good a strategy as any other.””

Apparently, astrologers (among others) are also good for stock predictions:

“Psychics say their business is robust, as do astrologers and people who channel spirits, read palms and otherwise predict the future (albeit not the winning lottery numbers)….Quackery? Whatever. But after all, the nation’s supposed experts on the economy, from pundits on the networks to billionaire investment bankers, have not been exactly reliable. And spiritual readings, as they are known, appear to be one of the few growth sectors in a contracting economy.”

What do you think? Who are you going to for advice in today’s unstable economic times? Your bank? Or the palm reader down the block?