I don't know why you need to turn this into a personal attack, but you are dead wrong in everything you assert about my beliefs and experience.
By paperwork, I meant the work burden... and we spent a lot of time getting approvals for small scale data collection efforts.
Maybe you have gone through the process. But I have, and it was a headache.
Your comment stated that the paperwork reduction act added paperwork, which you used as an example to the statement "potentially yielding the exact opposite [of] what it intends."
The intention of the federal paperwork reduction act isn't to reduce the physical amount of paperwork to you. It is to ensure that all paperwork has a purpose, and a timeframe for completion that isn't overly burdensome.
Therefore, your premise that its main goal was to reduce the physical number of pages for federal programs is incorrect, I assumed you were ignorant of what the federal paperwork reduction act was, and I explained it.
I have gone through the process of having federal forms cleared with the OMB at the federal level, large scale and small scale data collection, and have worked with them in several capacities. I don't like that I have to have everything relate to my goals and purpose or that I have to conduct studies on the front end for forms, but I see the purpose for it.
That isn't my premise. I mean 'paperwork' in the 'burden' sense, not as in physical pieces of paper. However, the extra layer of bureaucracy added paperwork in the 'burden' sense.