Celente was born in an Italian American family in The Bronx, New York City, New York. He had early political experience running a mayoral campaign in Yonkers, New York,^[when?] and served as executive assistant to the secretary of the New York State Senate.^[when?]

From 1973 to 1979, Celente traveled between the major US cities of Chicago, Illinois and the United states capital, Washington, D.C. as a government affairs specialist.^[4] In 1980, Celente founded The Trends Research Institute (at first called the Socio-Economic Research Institute of America), now located in Kingston, New York, publisher of the Trends Journal which forecasts and analyzes business, socioeconomic, political, and other trends.^[5]

Hugo Lindgren and ABC News have labelled Celente's predictions "pessimism porn" for their doom and the alleged eschatological thrill some people receive from imagining his predictions of the collapse of civil society in the wake of a global economic crisis.^[6][7]

His forecasts since 1993 have included predictions about terrorism, economic collapses and war. More recent forecasts involve fascism in the United States, food riots and tax revolts.^{[3][8][9][10]} Celente has long predicted global anti-Americanism, a failing economy and immigration woes in the U.S.

In 2009 Celente predicted turmoil which he described as "Obamageddon", and he was a popular guest on conservative cable-TV shows such as Fox News Sunday and Glenn Beck's television program.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2009 Celente wrote, "Wall Street controls our financial lives; the media manipulates our minds. These systems cannot be changed from within. There is no alternative. Without a revolution, these institutions will bankrupt the country, keep fighting failed wars, start new ones, and hold us in perpetual intellectual subjugation."^[11]

Celente has said, "smaller communities, the smaller groups, the smaller states, the more self-sustaining communities, will 'weather the crisis in style' as big cities and hypertrophic suburbias descend into misery and conflict", and forecasts "a downsizing of America".^[9]

• Trend Tracking: The System to Profit from Today's Trends (1991), ISBN 978-0446392877
• Trends 2000: How to Prepare for and Profit from the Changes of the 21st Century (1997), ISBN 978-0446519014
• What Zizi Gave Honeyboy: A True Story about Love, Wisdom, and the Soul of America (2002), ISBN 978-0066212661

• trendsresearch.com
• Appearances on C-SPAN