Guys we are talking about business that is non-contract. We are talking about government employees walking in with a Mastercard and making a purchase. Mastercard is going to send HD a check pretty quick and if the gov't doesn't pay mastercard then interest charges will accumulate. Either way HD is getting the dough from Mastercard. And HD is no little guy w/ $53 Billion in sales that's probably #10 or 20 on Fortune 500. It's hard to get any bigger, IOW I'm sure they manage they're receivables with their best interest in mind.
I think the reason things don't get done properly in Washington is too much bickering and adversarialism i.e. Dems vs. Rep. trying to court favor with voters by trumping up one side's mistake or twisting around facts to suit whatever agenda is being pushed. Sad, but this government system was established by the USA's founding fathers with the people's best interest in mind. The system is not the problem, the execution of the governement's responsibilities is what is. People want the governemnt to be responsible for everything (medicare, SS, defense) and not have their hand in anything at the same time because they're overreaching. Pretty tough.[/QB]
Actually,
MasterCard doesn't make a dime of interest, the only thing MasterCard gets is a transaction fee. The bank issuing the MasterCard makes the interest, if paid.
Of course, HD has to have a bank to process it's MasterCard payments as well, so they pay a bit for each transaction as well.
Anyway, the other point you make is about the size and scope of Federal government.
In my opinion, there are only three jobs that are the responsiblity of the Federal Government:
National Defense
Foreign Policy
Constitutional Defense/Domestic Police
Education, Food, Welfare, Medicine, Roads Bridges and whatnot are
NOT the job of the Federal Government.
Perhaps if the Federal Government would focus on it's core function, the horrific events of 9/11 could be avoided.
The large mass of the govenment and it's myriad branches make it hard to do any one task reasonably well.
But this is just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
TB
