Paul Krugman makes the case that big government deficits saved the world. He says that our economic problems were actually worse than what we encountered in the 1930's, and the reason we haven't spiraled down the drain was that Obama's stimulus package picked up the slack in demand and kept even more people from being laid off, even more companies from going under, even more financial institutions from collapsing.
Aside from the deficits I can't even imagine where we would be today without FDIC insurance on bank accounts, or unemployment benefits. I think everyone with money in a bank would have lost it. And just imagine how it would be for the unemployed. (Well, actually we're on the edge of finding out about that because unemployment is running out for a lot of people...)
