Seance on Wall Street

By Dean Baker - July 20, 2009, 5:28PM

There is a long history of mediums who claim to communicate with the dead. They sell their services to people anxious to talk to relatives or great figures of the past. Such exercises can be dismissed as harmless entertainment - people spend a few dollars to be treated to tall tales.

There is a Wall Street equivalent to these seances. People who claim to be knowledgeable about financial markets tell policy makers and reporters what the financial markets are thinking about current policy. These Wall Street seers claim to interpret events in financial markets for those of us who are less familiar with the mysteries of market movements.