Bad Economy A Boon For Psychics

CBS Evening News: Investors. Companies, The Unemployed Turn To Psychics To Learn Their Financial Destiny

(CBS)  If you could see into the future, you could make a lot of money.

Then again, even if you just claim you can see the future, you can still make a lot of money, as CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.

Most people will tell you…it's impossible to predict market swings.President Obama has said in press conferences that he doesn't have a crystal ball.

Neither does Anne Bradshaw. But she believes she can tell the future. And so does New York investor Steven Herman who's looking for Bradshaw's advice on a business deal.

"I wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole," Bradshaw told him.

Bradshaw doesn't read business documents. She feels them and senses their energy.

"Business, I almost want to apologize, is excellent," she said.

She says people are paying a fortune to be told their fortunes. One businessman got a particularly prescient prediction about a major bank.

"I told him that WaMu was going down, so close I could feel it, and I believe it went down the next day," Bradshaw said.

She charges $350 for an individual reading. Up to $10,000 a month for corporations. And she says she has more business than she can handle, including two Fortune 500 executives - but she can't say which ones.

Psychics across the country are reporting their business is booming.

"I don't think you should be so surprised," said Gita Johar, who teaches consumer behavior at Columbia University. "Superstitions might seem absurd to us, but it's just one more way of feeling like you're able to control your destiny."

They've been reading the tealeaves at Boston's Tremont Tearoom since the great depression. People used to come in to ask about romance. Now, says manager Alex Palermo, it's less about love, and nearly all about money.

The questions Palermo says he's hearing: "Will I get a job? Will I keep my job? Will my unemployment run out before I find a job?"

And business, he says is up 25 percent from last year.

"We kind of rested quietly for 74 years and now we're being called back into action. Kind of like the psychic version of the National Guard. It's, like, call them in!" Palermo said.

So psychics are answering the call, mostly predicting bad times.

But not always.

Asked about this company, Bradshaw predicted, "CBS is going to do very well."

And since scams and bailouts and bankruptcies are the new normal, how abnormal is it to seek comfort in the paranormal?

[richardinDC]

Anne Bradshaw is amazing!!! I did a reading with Anne recently, all I can tell you is I have never experienced anything like this in my life. The woman is phenominal. She helped me on business decisions that turned out to be 1,000% accurate. I would not have believed this unless I experienced it myself as I have never used a psychic. Thank you CBS for my new secret weapon in this economy!

[greatgeegee]

anne bradshaw is a fake, i paid 100 dollars for a reading. there was 17 women there she got 1700 dollars for a 45 min gallery. what a fake you should have seen her actions she would make off she was stuck to the chair she was sitting in. it was like a comedy show. the people that was there didnt like it, so her and a friend got mad and left,with 1700 dollars. i bet she doesnt pay taxes on that. it was all cash. what a joke. please please dont ever go to see her. please irs check her out.

[KingsonBaye]

LOL Huge coperations have swindled Millions out of people and you worry about a handfull of psychics!

[Iaveabrain]

"She charges $350 for an individual reading. Up to $10,000 a month for corporations. And she says she has more business than she can handle, including two Fortune 500 executives - but she can't say which ones. "

Well she would say that wouldn't she.

I charge $500 to call you a pillock and corporations up to $50,000 to call them honest, I have one Ex.President and one Ex.Prime Minister who regularly pay dinar's to be called the saviours of the free world and give them forgiveness for the deaths of up to one million innocent people - - but I can't say which ones.

[tomocar]

I saw this piece on Evening News last night and I am appalled that CBS stoops so low. You sound like a supermarket tabloid. Why are you lending credence to out-and-out lying cheating flim-flam artists who are fleecing the public? You just kindly ripped off perhaps thousands of gullible people and dropped millions of dollars in crooks' pockets. Shame on you! You need to air a retraction!

[honestabe8]

If people are dumb or desperate enough to fall for these shysters, they sort of get what they deserve

[triciawalsh]

i see Anne Bradshaw future =she will be arrested for tax evasion since she'S hiding half her income, do you hear that IRS ?? Anne Bradshaw IS A TAX CHEAT !!

[jamesguy]

I see your future. You're paying a loser living in a rented shack next to the freeway offramp to tell you what your future holds. You should buy a length of rope and hang yourself insted.