Rampton and Stauber

In Rampton and Stauber's chapter, The Birth of Spin, they talk about the Great Depression and how economic and political 'experts' didn't see it coming and had no way to deal with it once it came. It's hard to imagine a time when the average citizen believed in these 'intelligent people who knew what was going on.' Not for long though, because the experts were wrong and the depression continued. Is this situation possible today? I have to admit that as an average citizen who doesn't follow economics much, I would probably believe an economics professor over my own suspicions. But if they had no clue back then, who's to say we're any smarter today?

It's interesting to me how public relations were used even back then. With newspaper headlines like "optimism gains as US speeds jobless relief" and slogans like "be patriotic and spend money" I can only imagine how the public must have lost faith in their newspapers. Or did it give them hope? Obviously, these happy words weren't going to change the economy on their own, but if they gave people a sense of hope for better days, then that's a lot of power. Just makes me think how much I want to believe about current events. This book sheds a light that almost everything is spun some way- so what is the truth? I guess it depends what you want to believe.