The seeds of this article were planted in my brain some 30 odd years ago, when I did a consulting project for HUD, for which they contracted to pay me $2500. Three months after delivery and acceptance of my report by HUD, I realized I had not yet been paid and I contacted the person who had retained me. This elicited what I came to realize was a stock reply of an unregulated regulator: The payment was “in process”.
The same Q and A were repeated multiple times, and a year went by. At that point, in a fit of pique, I wrote a letter to the Secretary of HUD asking why it was not possible for his agency to discharge an uncontested debt within a year. Three days later I received a check for $2500. Two days after that I received another check for $2500.
