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There are a lot of gloom & doom naysayers out there right now, predicting some terrible crises. At least one, though, sees a silver lining for the entertainment industry.

Gerald Celente, founder and director of Trends Research Institute, has been known for his uncanny predictions of world events. His accurate forecasting includes the rise of the third party candidate (even predicting Ross Perot would head it), the dotcom collapse, the timing of the fall of the Soviet Union and the sub-prime mortgage failure.

He’s one of the muffled voices who, along with people like financial gurus Peter Schiff and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, predicted the sub-prime collapse coming but were ignored by the press. Another thing the three have in common is predicting this year will be worse than last.

In fact, Celente calls it the Greatest Depression and predicts its presence will be felt come late February, early March.
But wait: there is a shred of good news even in this most dire of scenarios.

“Quality will reign supreme,” Celente told Financial Sense Newshour Jan. 17. “And we’re going to see it in entertainment, also, because in bad times, people want high times. You’re going to see an entertainment revival, just as you saw in the Great Depression. It was the happiest, hottest music this nation’s ever seen.”

Another boon in the times to come will be spirits. Yes, according to Celente, people will really start to booze it up.

The prediction about entertainment mirrors the soothing words Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino recently told investors. Using the recession of 1992 as an indicator, Rapino predicted 2009 would not see a drop in ticket sales because, even in bad times, people want entertainment.