They clearly have the ability to do compound interest. That is not the problem.
The problem with the government can be mostly attributed to two things:
(1) our government is based on checks and balances, and because of this, we often have a divided government that fights with itself and frequently is stymied because of this.
(2) The people and corporations love to get government benefits, but no one likes to pay extra money for added benefits.
Our governmental system is defective. If we had a parliamentary system like Canada or Australia, many of the difficulties would disappear, as the leader and the principle legislative coalition would be of a common mind. Compromise would be encouraged, instead of the opposite, which is what we have now.
Electing a political neophyte like Cain will not solve any problems. The old fool would have more problems than Jimmy Carter, and from the looks of him, he'd just get on the news and rant about it. After two or three months, even the morons would have realize what a monumental mistake it had been to elect him.
But that will not happen, because he's not getting the nomination. The Oligarchy will not approve of him, and he will fall by the wayside, a la Ross Perot.