And in case it wasn't clear...
I don't accept the root premise that without the bailouts, stimulus, and gigantic Federal budget, our nation was doomed. The CBO said a couple of months back that even without the stimulus the recession would probably end in the second half of 2009.
Keep in mind the sources when people tell you that these hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars are essential to our survival. If McDonalds told you hamburgers were health food you wouldn't believe it. So why believe it when those who love and run Big Government tell you that Big Government is the heart of America's progress and only salvation in economic hard times?
The "tea parties" were people who aren't buying it.