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Ok, so last week we riffed on ABC for consulting a psychic about the economy, and rolling that into a feature for sweeps week.  Who knew they were actually cutting edge? 

Sunday's New York Times Styles Section has an in-depth feature on the booming business of psychics consulting Wall Street traders.  And not just psychics--astrologers, tarot-card readers, palm readers and an odd miscellany of other future-predicting hucksters are doing great. It is more than a little disturbing that the folks who are managing my money (and the taxpayer bailout), are basing their decisions on the supernatural.  As one star-charter said:  "People will entertain the irrational when what they consider rational collapses." 

Yeah.  But wait.  When did the "rational" collapse?  Indeed, when did the "rational" begin?  What was rational about the idea that housing prices would and could only go up, so lending money to anyway with a pulse and a home was a sure deal?  What was rational about creating financial instruments out of these loans that were so complicated that no one understood what they were buying?  What was rational about rating them triple-A to encourage other buyers?  What was rational about allowing all of these folks to do all of these things without any meaningful regulation?

Rational has not failed.  It just hasn't been tried.