Why would we need economic stimulus if everything is okay and the tax breaks worked?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22705103/

Please help me understand

so they can turn it over to

the utility companies to pay for their heating bills

or to the oil companies to pay for gasoline so they can get to work

or to the insurance companies to pay for their health insurance

or to the banks to pay for the mistakes in the loan business

And so I worked with the Congress to cut taxes on everybody who pays taxes. Now, sometimes in the nation's capital, they'll say, some people get tax cuts and others don't. That's not my attitude. My attitude was, if you're paying taxes, you ought to get tax relief. And so we cut taxes. And I mean we cut them on everybody. And when you cut them on individuals, it turns out you also are cutting taxes on small business owners. Most small businesses in America are Subchapter-S corporations, or limited liability partnerships, which means that the owners of the companies pay individual taxes. In other words, the company is subject to the individual tax rates. And so cutting individual taxes not only helps consumers and families, but it also helps small businesses.

And the plan worked. If you think about where we were coming out of 2001 and where we are today, you can't help but say the plan worked; cutting taxes helped stimulate economic growth. Why? Because most new jobs are created by small business owners. And if you let a small business owner have more money to save or invest or spend, it means he or she is more likely to hire somebody. And so we've had a pretty good economic run here in the country: six years of growth; we've had 51 straight months of increased job employment, it's the largest -- longest period of uninterrupted job growth in the nation's history; people are working; productivity is high, in other words, our economy is becoming more productive as a result of the advent of new technologies. And that means people are more likely to get paid more.

And yet there are some challenges. There's a credit issue and a housing issue. In other words, what I'm about to tell you is, is that the Congress cannot take economic vitality for granted. There are some positive things Congress can do to make sure that the economy continues to grow and people are working and realizing dreams, and there's some negative things they can do. And the most negative thing the Congress can do in the face of some economic uncertainty is to raise taxes on the American people. If you want to figure out a way to slow this economy down, just start taking money out of people's pockets, or making it harder for small businesses to grow and invest.

So one thing I want to share with you today is, I'll veto any tax increase. I don't think Congress needs more money. I think they need to learn how to set better priorities.

And that's what you're watching play out here in Washington. The President submits a budget and then the Congress can either accept it, run over it, ignore it, and then the Congress -- or the Constitution wisely gives a President veto power, in order to make sure the President stays involved in the process. And I'm pleased to report that we're making some pretty good progress toward coming up with a fiscally sound budget -- one that meets priorities, helps on some emergencies, and enables us to say that we've been fiscally sound with the people's money.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071217-2.html

economy was doing just fine without them.

Even discounting the massive increase in spending during Bush's term, the interest on the debt based spending which was necessary because spending was not cut along with the tax rate causes the same spending to cost more. In addition, on top of the interest Bush also allowed the Republican controlled Congress to ruin the future by increasing spending on bribe projects to their home districts. Then there's Iraq.

Oh yeah, and the fact that irresponsible investors were not self-corrected out of the market by failing the first time around, as they were propped up with the tax cuts.