I could comment on this story on many levels, but first, I think it’s important to mention that folks tend to gravitate toward psychics or spirituality in times of hardship. 

It’s telling that Donna Artuso, a former journalist, would be duped by these claims:

“Randy thinks I’m going to reinvent myself and have a new career.”

Randy is not a prophet. That would make him possess some level of knowledge that transcends what naturally comes with his abilities as a human. While he’s not a prophet, he is quite clever. He does have a decent idea of what folks would like him to say. Randy thinks you are going to reinvent yourself and get a new career. That’s what you wanted to hear, wasn’t it? That’s what you paid him to say, right?

Later in the story, we hear Dr. Stanley Krippner say, “There’re psychological and anthropological literature on this topic showing that people do go to psychics more and more freely during times of economic distress or national emergency.”

One doesn’t need a psychology degree to come to such a conclusion. Rather than spending less, using coupons, refusing to buy on credit and living within their means, people generally gravitate toward something they perceive to be above themselves or outside of themselves to ease the economic (and other) pressures of life to rescue them. It would be more expedient and sensical to cease looking for answers around every corner, at every soothsayer (The construction of that word is telling, since a soothsayer, a prophet predicts the future in such a way as to alleviate the fears of her client or subject. Simply, she says that which soothes the senses.) because answers aren’t there. Answers are in the wise handling, spending and saving of money. They are in building a reputation as a diligent, proficient worker, thus creating job security and creating a stable flow of income for your family. Wishful thinking only gets a person so far; reason and common sense must carry the load the rest of the way.