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The logic of the statement, which is pretty hard to dispute, doesn't establish that the current amount of waste in any given program is or isn't optimal, only that the optimal level isn't zero.

No one is saying the current level of government waste is optimal and not worth the cost to eliminate. Just that if you have eliminated 99%, the extra 1% may not be worth it.

I'd like to cross that bridge when we get there :)

Completely agreed. The best solution to eliminate government waste is to eliminate the part of the government creating the waste.