America has long believed that anything is possible.

That optimism helped build the world’s largest economy.

It has also made Americans easy targets for hucksters and charlatans.

In 1897, a Baptist minister convinced people his company could extract gold from seawater near Lubec, Maine.

In 1925, Bailey Radium Laboratories sold Radithor as a cure for impotence and a way to restore vitality.

There was no gold in the seawater, and Radithor poisoned people with radiation.

Americans also gave us Clark Stanley’s fake “snake oil” and Charles Ponzi’s stamp-coupon scheme.

Experts say people keep falling for such claims for a simple reason.

Dr. Lydia Kang, author of a book on medical fads, said people really do not want to die.

She said everyone has a deep wish for a long life without disability or pain.

Other experts point to social and evolutionary reasons for believing outlandish claims.

These tendencies are stronger in America, Kang said, because of its optimism, individualism, lightly regulated capitalism and ambition.

Tali Sharot, a neuroscience professor, said beliefs are not always meant to be accurate.

They can bring rewards, like community or hope.

Companies exploit this hope, Kang said, by bottling it and selling it at whatever price people can afford.