LET’S DECLARE WAR ON SLUDGE
Sludge, noun. Thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid component, especially the product of an industrial or refining process. —Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2019
We’ve all had to fight our way through administrative sludge — filling out complicated online forms, mailing in paperwork, standing in line at the motor vehicle registry.
Sludge comes from private and public institutions. It comes from small companies and from large ones. It comes from national governments and from state and local authorities. Lawyers impose sludge. So do courts. So do doctors and hospitals. Banks certainly impose sludge. Although the problem of sludge is worse in some countries than in others, it can be found in every nation on the planet. Sludge is built into the human condition, and we need to start to remove it, piece by piece.
In many cases, sludge imposes economic harm. In other cases, it damages public health. In the worst cases, it kills. Every day, it impairs education; often it deprives people of educational opportunity. It cripples economic growth. It decreases employment and stifles entrepreneurship and innovation. It
