"What happened was Bush and Paulson kicking the legs from under the economy."

No, what happened is that Bush really didn't care about real people in a suffering economy. He wanted to give money to his rich friends. Paulson was a convenient tool for this purpose.

The TARP and the so-called "stimulus" wasn't large enough to infuse enough money into infrastructure, health, education and discretionary spending for non-wealthy Americans.
The amount fell short of what was needed and no regulation barred the CEO's from reaping this bonanza.

Tia is absolutely right about where the taxpayer money is going. It knocks the theory that a wartime economy is good for the country into the cess pool where it belongs.