Sidney Friedman's 2010 Predictions

(CBS)  It's 2010, and if you're like most people, you probably are wondering what this new year has in store. Luckily, a mentalist stopped by "The Early Show Saturday Edition" who claims he can see into the future.

He's Sidney Friedman and author of the book "Your Mind Knows More Than You Do."

What is a mentalist? According to Friedman, "A mentalist is someone who has highly developed abilities of perception and intuition. These abilities are used to sense what others may be feeling or thinking, and to also sometimes sense future events."

Asked if he can really see into the future, Friedman says, "The meanings are often blurred between mentalist and psychic. Psychics often claim they see the whole future, and although some people refer to me as a psychic, I believe most of the future cannot be predicted. For the most part, we make the future. We make it happen or not happen. But once in a while, the curtain parts ever-so-slightly on the theater of tomorrow and we get a glimpse of the drama to come. I take note of these glimpses, interpret them and tell you what I see."

Friedman says there are four methods how he gets his premonitions:

"Through dreams; I journal my dreams and then attempt to decipher the images; by a method known as goblet gazing, or water gazing (it's a kind of meditation); with a pendulum; and sometimes, I just guess, though not often," he explained.

Asked why we should believe him and his predictions, Friedman said, "Since 1998, over twelve years, I've publicly stated on television, radio and my Web site my foresights/prognostications/intuitions about each coming year, so they are out there for everyone to see and check my accuracy. Overall I've had a 68 percent success rate, with as high as 76 percent, and never lower than 62 percent, including predicting the following: Steve Fossett's successful circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon; Barack Obama winning the 2008 election, predicted pre-primaries, against all punditry at that time when Hillary Clinton was leading in the polls; the landing point of Hurricane Floyd, predicted on CBS News Chicago."

"Of course, remember, accurate predictions can seem obvious in retrospect, but wrong predictions seem totally silly. So it's important to appreciate how difficult this is. It's an art, it's also a science, but I always try to have fun with it, challenge myself and see if I can keep improving," he added.

Getting down to business, we asked him what he sees in store for the economy in 2010.

"In terms of the stock market, a major correction in Dow Jones prices will occur (perhaps about a thousand points) prior to spring, then a recovery in summer, finishing at year's end higher than where we started the year. Nonetheless, recession will still remain," Friedman predicted. "But overall, as I've stated since a year ago December, we must look at this long-term, and we are in a seven to eight year cycle that evolves to a kind of Renaissance in the economy with incredible invention, resourcefulness and discovery resulting in new businesses, better times for current businesses, and thus more jobs and major growth in the economy."

"By the way, seven to eight years may seem like a long time, but in the larger scheme of things, the eons that precede us and that will follow, it's a relatively short period," he added.

Asked if the jobless rate will go up or down, he predicted that "the job situation improves with more people employed in 2010, with the most significant jumps in employment occurring at the end of spring and at year's end. Nevertheless, we won't have as many people back to work as we would all like, but it's an improvement."

Switching to politics, we asked if President Obama will see a more successful year in 2010.

Friedman said, "The perception will be that President Obama is doing better, and though his poll numbers fell in the second half of 2009, his approval ratings will rise by end of summer in 2010. By the way, there will be a cabinet resignation this year."

Asked if his health care reform bill will pass, Friedman said, "Yes. Here's the interesting part: even though the House and Senate each passed a version of a health care bill, it will still undergo significant changes, part of which will include (surprisingly) the so-called 'public option,' or something like it, before it is signed into law."

Asked if the Republicans will gain seats in the House and Senate in the November elections, Friedman predicts, "The Republicans will gain two seats in the Senate. They will gain slightly in the House."

And he predicts Sarah Palin is "always" in the news. "That's not hard to predict. And if she isn't, someone in her family will be."

See more of Sidney Friedman's predictions on page 2.

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