Taiwan's parliament has approved a $25 billion defense spending bill that opposition lawmakers say will be used for U.S. weapons, following months of political wrangling. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/09/asia-pacific/taiwan-defense-budget-passes-parliament/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #taiwan #drones #pla #china #defense #budgets #laichingte #donaldtrump #xijinping #us
After months of wrangling, Taiwan lawmakers OK $25 billion defense spending bill

The spending, which opposition lawmakers say will be used for U.S. weapons, falls well short of the government's proposed budget of nearly $40 billion.

The Japan Times

What Writers Can Learn From The Short Film That Launched a $1 Billion Franchise

Selling, Not Selling Out ‘Write me a low-budget screenplay that launches a $1 billion dollar franchise.’  A producer said this in a room full of writers I was in, back at the very beginning of my career. To say it landed with me BIG TIME is an understatement. It made me realise that story is… Read More » What Writers Can Learn From The Short Film That Launched a $1 Billion Franchise
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https://bang2write.com/2026/05/what-writers-can-learn-from-the-short-film-that-launched-a-1-billion-franchise.html

#advice #audience #boxoffice #budgets #casestudy

What if #smallbusinessowners and #entrepreneurs could learn everything they'd need to know about #digitalmarketing or #onlinemarketing in a fun, relaxed way? Now you can with my "Illustrated Guide to Digital Marketing."

#ecommerce #branding #smallbusiness #entrepreneurship #startups #budgets #marketingbudget

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Yesterday, Pete Hegseth told Congress that the war in Iran has cost $25 billion, but academics who track the costs of wars say that cost will be $1 trillion. That’s like saying something happened in the 13th century when it really happened in the Stone Age.

Let’s get serious about stopping fraud, waste, and abuse!

#hegseth #Iran #DoD #Budgets #War

https://www.contractsprofblog.com/2026/04/target-fraud-waste-abuse-the-pentagon/

'I don't want the children to see how worried we are': UK family finances hit by Iran war

British families tell BBC Panorama how the Iran war is affecting their monthly #budgets.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9q2g88nzo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

(c) #BBC #News

'I don't want the children to see us worried': UK families feel financial hit of Iran war

British families tell BBC Panorama how the Iran war is affecting their monthly budgets.

@commissionerHR @coe

We'd like to think rights are inviolable, but they are fragile and borne of stability and surplus. When those are threatened, people get more casual with what they'll do for others.

Also, the very notion of annual meetings has an inappropriate stability baked in. Climate is accelerating, which means the pace of its wrath is not synchronized to budget cycles or the Earth's leisurely path around the sun.

At this point, the very notion of an annual meeting about climate is a statement of denial. It is essential to meet as often and for as long as is needed to get serious action. It may be uncomfortable for representatives to ask there host nation or company for resources or calendar time, itself the most precious resource, but if those entities are not up to feeling uncomfortable in service of something larger, then THAT is the key obstacle and the smoking gun of denialism.

Climate change should be making us uncomfortable. It promises much worse than that, and soon. Discomfort helps to set priorities properly. Smoothing over discomfort admits the acceptability of status quo priorities.

Ask for semi-annual meetings or the right to variable lengths of time to get real points across and obtain serious commitment.

Survival of the species is on the line, and too many places in the world are hierarchically arranged so that that will be managed by herd thinning in vain hope that's enough to let our most affluent survive at the expense of others. In other words, kindness and human rights will be the first casualties of a society structured to preserve its sociopathic leaders at all costs.

And, saddest of all, when the rest are gone, the sociopaths will realize they haven't the skill to do much of anything necessary even for survival, and then they will be gone, too. If I thought we were focused on preserving at least our kindest, or smartest, or hardest working people, I might have hope in this regard. But the ones with the bunkers are none of these things, nor will they be able to keep those bunkers in working order long enough for the planet to recover and humanity to thrive again.

#climate #ClimateDenial #HumanRights #AnnualMeeting #AnnualMeetings #collapse #extinction #budgets #civilization #civilisation #society #discomfort #surplus #stability

4/17
Nicht vom Bund, nicht durch Strukturreformen. Von denen, die die Versorgung täglich aufrechterhalten. Politische Zusagen wie ein Rechtsanspruch auf einen Arzttermin innerhalb weniger Wochen werden faktisch inhaltslos. Wer #Budgets einführt, muss auch sagen, dass Leistungen begrenzt sind. Alles andere ist unehrlich gegenüber den Patientinnen und Patienten.
Japan is making progress toward its goal of bringing defense spending to 2% of GDP, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said, with spending for this fiscal year set to rise to just short of that threshold, at 1.9%. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/04/18/japan/japan-defense-spending-gdp/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #defense #defenseministry #budgets #sdf #china #shinjirokoizumi
Japan's defense spending to reach 1.9% of GDP this fiscal year

Defense-related spending in the fiscal year through March 2027 would total ¥10.6 billion, approaching the gold standard 2% of GDP level.

The Japan Times
Takaichi's economic ambitions meet interest-rate realities and doubts about debt as the war in the Middle East and higher inflation make the math less favorable. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/04/16/economy/takaichi-fiscal-policy-sustainability/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #debt #boj #sanaetakaichi #budgets #gdp
Takaichi's economic ambitions meet interest-rate realities and doubts about debt

The math is looking less favorable with the war in the Middle East fueling inflation and the BOJ ready to make a move.

The Japan Times
Private-sector members of a key government panel have stressed the need for a drastically review of Japan's budget compilation process and have called for setting a new investment quota for crisis management and growth. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/04/14/economy/japan-panel-proposal-budget-draft-overhaul/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #budgets #sanaetakaichi #japaneseeconomy #fiscalspending
Private sector representatives urge Takaichi to overhaul budget processes

The members of a key government panel also called for setting a new investment quota for crisis management and growth.

The Japan Times