Excerpted from the New York Times:

Love, Jobs & 401(k)s

By Ruth LaFerla
Published November 21, 20008

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.”
In an era when even Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary, changes his mind weekly about how to rescue the United States economy, Mr. Taccetta’s decision to seek the advice of a psychic may not seem all that irrational. With Washington flinging pieces of the $700 billion bailout package around, dithering about whom to rescue — homeowners? automakers? cousin Fred? — a good set of tarot cards might come in handy.

Fahrusha, a Madame Blavatsky from Manhattan, said that clients have been pressing her with highly focused queries. “They might want to know about investing in a particular security, or ask how the euro will fare against the dollar,” she said. In flusher times, they might have consulted a financial expert, she said, “but some of these people are experts themselves.”