It’s either an oxymoron or a euphemism for something else entirely. I think I like Harry Truman’s take on it: “Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.”
Via Slashdot:
“Federal CIO Vivek Kundra described some dismaying government inefficiencies in a speech on Thursday at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs in Seattle. It takes 160 days to process benefits for veterans, he said, ‘because the Veteran’s Administration is processing paperwork by passing manila folders from one desk to another.’ Another example bound to make you grind your teeth is why it takes the Patent and Trademark Office 3 years to process a patent. ‘One reason,’ says Kundra, ‘is because the USPTO receives these applications online, prints them out, and then someone manually rekeys the information into an antiquated system.’” ~slashdot