  The balance function has been proposed to `clock' hadronization by measuring
the charge-dependent correlation length on rapidity. According to the proposal
a narrowed balance function would imply reduced hadron diffusion time and
therefore delayed hadronization due to a long-lived prehadronic state, a
quark-gluon plasma or QGP. I examine this chain of argument in the context of
hadronization and rescattering. I then consider the algebraic structure of the
balance function and its systematic dependence on the charge correlation length
on rapidity. I conclude that the width of the balance function cannot determine
a time interval from hadronization to kinetic decoupling, nor can the width
determine the existence or temporal extent of a QGP.
