Consensus...What Consensus?

I really don't understand the argument that the TARP bailout and the combined Bush/Obama efforts avoided plunging us into a deep depression. Why does everyone take this at face value? If GW Bush claimed the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars prevented more terrorist attacks - many folks - especially on the left - would have challenged this claim because it is basically unprovable.

Here, the author the The Black Swan, argues the opposite:

“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”

Today, Taleb said, “total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.”

and

“Today there is a dependency on people who have never been able to forecast anything,” Taleb said. “What kind of system is insulated from forecasting errors? A system where debts are low and companies are allowed to die young when they are fragile. Companies always end up dying one day anyway.”

Hmmm.