I used to drive a Volkswagen Passat. Great car, roomy, and the 2 liter turbo engine got it going pretty well while returning fuel economy in the low 30MPG range (7.8 l/100Km+). The only problem is that it was front wheel drive, and the differential must have been a very generic type as in any sort of low traction environment it resorted to spinning one wheel.
Now, on the dash was a little button that allowed one to disable the traction control. By doing this, and with careful control of the throttle, brake, and steering, I could get that car through pretty much anything in short order. Enabling traction control, on the other hand, retarded the engine so extremely and applied so much braking that while the car might worm its way out eventually it was such slow going you'd have to be an idiot to put up with it. Of course if you're the sort of person who is an idiot, and when encountering a situation where the car isn't traveling at the expected speed mash the accelerator pedal to the floor, traction control is a must since it overrides your stupidity. Turn it off and mash the accelerator and you'll sit all day until either the wheel digs into so much dirt that you're truly stuck, or spins on ice long enough to catch fire.
So the traction control is there for people who don't know how to operate a motor vehicle. People who grew up driving on dirt and ice can pretty much leave it off, but the vast majority of drivers desperately need it to save them from themselves.
Or, at least, that seemed like a decent analogy in my head.
