*WHOSE* ENTITLEMENTS? THE BUSH TAX CUTS & THE DEBT CEILING DEAL

WHO IS 

FEELING 

ENTITLED? 

GEORGE W. BUSH 

ADDRESSES 

THE 2001 YALE COMMENCEMENT 

Ten years ago this past May, President George W. Bush wrangled himself an honorary degree from Yale, his grandfather's alma mater, his father's alma mater, his alma mater, and his daughter Barbara's alma mater-to-be. 

It was May 21, 2001.  George W. Bush was said to have been unhappy that Yale had waited more than a decade into his father's service first as vice-president and then president before bestowing on honorary degree on him. The son was not shy about making his displeasure known, and Yale got the hint (details here and here). 

So here was "Bush 43" getting his in his first year as president, only four months and a day after he had been inaugurated. 

Entitlement. 

He might have peppered his address with self-deprecating remarks (see photograph above) -- notably, about a C-student growing up to be president -- but there was definitely an assumption that he and his ilk were entitled. 

Five days later, May 26, this President Bush won the passage of the largest tax cuts "approved by Congress in more than two decades...."   Shoehorned into a $1.35 trillion cap, the cuts were programmed to expire at the end of 2010 -- that was the basis on which they were sold.  They would self-destruct rather than bust the budget. 

Once the cuts, tilted towards the wealthy, were in place, those who got them thought they were entitled. 

When the end of 2010 arrived, President Obama and the Congress extended them. 

With the August 2 debt ceiling deal we are reaping the whirlwind.