PUNCTUALITY (;-)=[=< -- WHAT'S THAT?

Punctuality is a rather rare commodity in some areas of our lives here in the United States.  It is very strange to us who are accustomed to making fun about people from cultures who do not have the same appreciation of time that we think we do.  We talk very easily in disparaging terms about "Mexican time;" "Filipino Time" and other such "times" many of which escape me for the time being.  I am here to tell you that we, fauna of the United States of America, have no right to talk trash about the lack of on-time habits in other countries.  For a country, or is it a culture, who has as an axiom, "time is money" I am here to tell you that it is now clear to me why we are in the midst of hard times.  It's because we squander so much of our "money."  It seems as though we have more lateness than we have punctuality in our daily lives.  If it is true that "time is money" and if it is true that we believe in what we say about time, then we are sorely lacking in respect for our "money."  In fact It strikes me that we must be nearly bankrupt.  I can vouch for some of the disregard for punctuality in segments of our dear country.  I have experienced bus schedules that are a farce.  Not only are the buses late, but the people in customer service blithely announce to the inquisitive soul who wonders where the vehicle is, "Oh the buses on that line are never on time."  Yes, boys and girls, that is a direct, true to fact quote.  Trains?  What few we have are also more late than on time.  I don't dare to visit the airline situation.  I'm am trying to keep this light and humorous.  In that vein, let me tell you a funny(?) story.
We were going to take a bus from Boston, MASS to Springfield, MASS.  The conveyance was to leave the dock at 9:55 AM.  Promptly at 9:50 AM the driver fired up the engine, closed the door and disappeared inside the terminal.  Promptly at 10:05 he returned, let three stragglers on the bus, came in, strapped himself meticulously into his captain's chair and started to roll at 10:08 sharp.  Between then and the arrival in Springfield the clock had surpassed our sick, lumbering whale by another 25 minutes making our loving relatives waiting for our arrival for an extra 33 minutes.  I will let you do the math about the amount of money that was squandered in that situation.  Oh, by the way, six days later on the return trip, the scenario replayed itself out again, but this time the waste was 40 minutes...the engine ran for 12 minutes while the behemoth sat in dry dock.  At that rate, even though we had three and one half hours before our plane was due to leave, we were worried about whether or not we would make it to the airport on time.  We didn't have to worry, because that conveyance was not in any mood to be punctual anyway.
See you tomorrow, anytime, sharp.