[FindingOut]

I've heard this, mostly in relation to discussions of fiscal cuts, but have been unable to find a study quantifying waste or "mostly" wasteful. I don't doubt any large enterprise of humans, in government or private industry, will have instances of waste, even small instances of theft or fraud. It is the quantification ("mostly") and the conclusions thereof (removing delegated authority, either explicitly or via fiscal cuts) that I'm genuinely trying to understand. I'm aware of IG reports of specific instances of waste, but nothing remotely approaching a majority of an agency's funding. Given the history of the "snake oil salesman" era of the US (ca. 1890s-1920s, killing thousands with bogus and impure/junk medicines) that gave rise to the current agency mission, I'm reluctant to find out what social media and an unregulated medical industry can harvest 100 years later.