[NewsPoster]

A variety of US businesses including Apple, IBM, and Coca-Cola have agreed to sign on to an Obama administration initiative dubbed SupplierPay. The program is a private-sector mirror of QuickPay, a federal effort to ensure that smaller contractors are paid within 15 days of issuing an invoice. Under SupplierPay, private firms are expected to pay smaller parts suppliers quickly.

The theory is that suppliers will have more money on-hand to spend on jobs, equipment, and other expansion efforts, instead of having to stretch budgets while they wait for delinquent clients. The White House argues that profitable supply chains are ultimately beneficial to those clients.

It also claims that businesses will sometimes take as long as two months to pay suppliers. This affects not only the suppliers, but sometimes subcontractors. Some firms can be forced to go into debt, further increasing their financial burden.

[xomniron]

Am I missing something in this story? Why is the White House involved? This is purely the private sector -- arrangements between two companies exchanging goods and/or services. How and when payments in compensation take place are in the contract between the two parties. How is this any concern of the "White House?" Gov't should be the referee, not one of the players.