The Point of Fuses

To my way of thinking fuses/circuit breakers have two functions. One is to protect the device at the end of the wire from getting too much current and frying. Thus a fuse sitting between the power source and say a radio is there to protect the radio. A circuit breaker is there to not only protect the devices that may be on the circuit in the event of a short, but also to keep from overloading the wiring and melting. Imagine a 15 amp circuit using the appropriate sized wire and you decide to put 4 coffee pots and a microwave on that circuit at the same time. Without the breaker the draw of current from the five devices would most likely melt the wire and bad things happen.

I guess you could put big honking wire everywhere but not realistic plus you would still need a breaker or fuse.