^Haha, yeah maybe not the best saying to use when talking transmissions and gears! Lol
Either way, 4xford, the confusion is your interpretation of "best" compared to others'.
I understand what you're saying and you're talking "best" balance maybe between ultimate capability and unloaded economy.
But that does not negate that deeper gears will pull harder all other things considered. You can cherry pick when a taller gear will be in the powerband for a given speed and pull harder and compare that to a lower gear, but that does not consider the fact that as torque multiplication increases so does pulling power. Period.