The Minister of Publicity and the Minister of Finance engaged in a heated debate. One side emphasized that to achieve good publicity results, investing more is necessary; the other side insisted that such a high publicity budget was impossible; otherwise, the financial situation would certainly deteriorate.
In the end, Strange made the decision: "Increase the publicity budget for the Publicity Department. Give them whatever they need. However, I want to see results, understood?"
The Minister of Publicity nodded vigorously and said, "I will absolutely not disappoint you. Within three days, the publicity for environmental work will spread across the entire cosmos, and everyone will know about this, even be able to articulate our environmental policies."
Strange nodded in satisfaction, while the Minister of Finance hesitated to speak. After the morning meeting ended, and Strange returned to his office, the Minister of Finance trailed behind him like a shadow.
"Supreme Magician, forgive my straightforwardness, though I'm not from a financial background, I can at least understand reports. The financial situation of the interstellar council is not optimistic..."
"Knock, knock!"
"Come in!"
Schiller walked in with a stack of reports, surprised to see the Minister of Finance there, and then said, "Oh, Minister, I was just about to look for you. Have you seen the Interstellar News Network?"
"Doctor Schiller, I've heard a lot about you." The minister stood up, somewhat awkwardly extending his hand to shake Schiller's. Their race's etiquette does not involve shaking hands, but he saw on the interstellar internet that humans shake hands upon first meeting. Schiller also stepped forward, shook his hand, and said, "I didn't expect to meet someone from the Leta Star here. How is your Emperor? What about Princess His Highness?"
"Princess His Highness is much better, thanks to your guidance. She finally ditched that damned bastard. The day they announced their breakup, the entire Leta Star was in an uproar. It's a pity you didn't want to reveal your name, but the Leta Royal Family speaks highly of you..."
Strange recalled that Schiller had mentioned to him that during his time traveling across the cosmos, he had provided psychological counseling to many societal elites of advanced civilizations, and presumably, the Princess from the Leta Star was among them.
"Let's cut the small talk," Schiller placed the documents on the desk and continued, "I consulted with the Interstellar News Network, the cost for the headline scrolling banner, estimated at around 6 million universal coins."
Strange gasped. Interstellar universal coins are quite valuable; if compared to Earth, they are roughly equivalent to Euros, perhaps even higher since it's the currency of the Three Great Empires. 6 million universal coins is an astronomical figure.
The Minister of Finance sighed a bit troubled, saying, "Our financial budget for a quarter is about 80 million, and here we have to spend 6 million at once, with more to follow. In such a case, the financial deficit will be horrifying."
"Supreme Magician, that Minister of Publicity is doing it on purpose, he is from the Three Great Empires, and he's trying to deplete our financial budget this way. However, he's completing the task you've given him, and achieving great results, so we really have no reason to cut the budget."
Strange could tell that the Minister of Finance indeed didn't quite grasp financial work; other than sighing, he seemed at a loss, so Strange turned to Schiller.
Schiller, surprised, asked, "Is 6 million a lot already?"
The Minister of Finance thought he might not understand the value of universal coins, so he said, "Yes, 6 million is a significant sum. And choosing the scrolling banner on Interstellar News Network isn't cost-effective; that website is always priced high."
"So, there's no issue with the pricing from Interstellar News Network?"
"Yes, this is indeed their real quotation; otherwise, I wouldn't have approved the budget," the Minister of Finance nodded.
"So, scrolling for 10 days costs 60 million, and scrolling for 100 days would cost 600 million?"
"If it's a long-term deal, there might be some discount, but the price difference wouldn't be substantial. That website charges exorbitantly, relying on being the largest news site. But they have backing from the Three Great Empires, and no one can touch them."
"Isn't the budget also allocated by the Three Great Empires?"
"Yes, it's like taking money out of the left pocket and putting it into the right. Only those of us working below face the pressure of a budget deficit; they don't care at all. Furthermore, I suspect they're deliberately quoting high to exert financial pressure on us, to hinder the implementation of environmental work. At this rate, we'll soon run out of funds for publicity."
"What about New Environmental Video?"
"Oh, that's a video site where many streamers post various videos, from daily life logs to game videos and travel videos. It's very popular. The streamers there charge even higher. Some simple ad words cost tens of thousands. I'm really afraid he'll hand me a budget proposal costing tens of millions later."
"Sign it," Schiller said.
"What?"
"No matter how many budget proposals he hands over later, you must act as if it's no big deal and sign off on them,"
"Do we really allocate funds to him?"
"Allocate, give him as much as he asks for."
"But, but we don't have much cash."
"Not much in the general budget, is it? Isn't there military funds?"
The Minister of Finance was utterly shocked and said, "Military funds?! But those belong to the Three Great Empires..."
"Divert it over," Shiller said decisively, "whether it's cash for the general budget, military expenditure, or money for living expenses, give it all to him."
"Oh, I get it," the Finance Minister realized, saying, "If we do this, the armed forces will definitely cause trouble for him."
Strange found it a bit unbearable and said, "You've already said that both the Minister of Propaganda and the Minister of Armed Forces are from the Three Great Empires. They won't cause trouble for each other. The Minister of Armed Forces will come after you, questioning why you're misappropriating the budget."
This made the Finance Minister extremely nervous. He took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat and stammered, "But I can't... Supreme Magician, it's not that I don't want to, but the Armed Forces have an army. If the Minister of Armed Forces just leads a patrol squad over Leta Star, it will surely cause panic..."
"I can guarantee Leta Star's safety," Shiller said, "Even if you don't believe me, you have to trust the Supreme Magician; he will protect your home planet."
The Finance Minister looked at Strange again. Strange glanced at Shiller and reluctantly nodded, "Yes, I won't let him do that. Rest assured."
The Finance Minister breathed a sigh of relief but still said, "But I don't understand why we have to do this."
"You've already said it, the money is just being moved from the left pocket to the right pocket. After all, it's all their money anyway; putting it back in their pocket isn't out of the question. But we can use this to fill a big hole."
The Finance Minister was still somewhat bewildered. Shiller handed him the documents in his hand and said, "Follow this to keep the accounts."
The Finance Minister took a look, gasped, and said, "Is this really okay? Isn't this too outrageous?"
"Just go do it."
The Finance Minister staggered out. Strange hadn't seen the documents, so he asked, "You're having him falsify accounts? Can he do it?"
"I've already prepared everything for him; he just needs to sign," Shiller said.
"Who are you trying to exploit now? The Minister of Propaganda?"
"I'm not exploiting them; I'm helping them," Shiller smiled and said.
A calm morning passed, but after the lunch break ended, The Supremacy came again, this time specifically looking for Shiller.
"Doctor Schiller, regarding what you mentioned last time about saving the council's financial deficit..."
"Don't worry, Mr. Secretary-General, I'm working on it," Shiller said without lifting his head, "There should be results tonight; you just wait and see."
The Supremacy was a bit uneasy, as he hadn't seen Shiller doing anything, but Shiller was so confident, implying there was something he wasn't aware of.
Shiller motioned for him to sit on the chair in front of him. After sitting, The Supremacy thought for a moment and said, "The source of the financial deficit is very complex. The key is that over the past hundreds of years, we have made thousands of emergency allocations in the form of loans, and the interest and late fees have accumulated to the current state."
Shiller knew that The Supremacy seemed to be trying to explain, but he didn't need to; Shiller was all too familiar with this situation.
The financial appropriations of the interstellar council come from the Three Great Empires, but they are tax-funded. The civilizations under them must pay them money. When collecting taxes, they collect their own, and then each quarter, they provide some to maintain the operation of the interstellar council.
If the budget isn't enough, for example, if there are emergencies in the current year that require the interstellar council to resolve, those are costly. When the funding for the next quarter hasn't arrived, the money runs out, yet the matter still has to be resolved, which then requires an emergency allocation.
However, emergency allocations aren't just giving money; it's borrowing money. The Three Great Empires loan funds to the interstellar council, requiring interest charges and mandatory repayment timelines. Once unpaid, there are late fees.
Since the council's inception, they've conducted countless emergency borrowings, accruing over time and leading to a trillion-dollar deficit.
Many people would find the system absurd because the interstellar council was created by the Three Great Empires for stable governance, like a knife in their hands. For this knife to chop vegetables, it needs to pay its own way, essentially borrowing money from the Three Great Empires to do its primary job.
What's more absurd is that the Three Great Empires also lend. The funding for the interstellar council originally comes from the Three Great Empires, and repayment uses this funding, meaning they're borrowing their own money and using their money to repay, which sounds utterly ridiculous and unnecessary.
Many people feel that since they're paying taxes, maintaining peace in the cosmos is then a responsibility, but this isn't the case. Rather than calling it a tax, it's more like protection money. Whether or not the Three Great Empires maintain universal order, this money still has to be paid. Those who can't pay in cash must pay in materials, or survival is impossible.
Therefore, the Three Great Empires aren't concerned about accusations like embezzling tax funds. The money you give them becomes theirs. Maintaining cosmic peace is about sentiment, not obligation, and the system built to maintain universal order inherently suggests they want rest and rebuilding. But overall, the Three Great Empires don't need to heed interstellar opinions; they act as they wish.
Since this is the case, creating such elaborate borrowing systems and now wanting to balance the books has its reasoning. Essentially, it's the Three Great Empires diverting their future funds.
Under normal circumstances, maintaining the interstellar council shouldn't cost much money, and many issues shouldn't be handled by them. However, either due to convenience or to elevate the council's status, matters are left up to the council, possibly overspending the established budget, requiring further financial input.
But these matters don't necessarily need the council's intervention, nor does the money need to be spent. To cover this, they claim the money is borrowed by the interstellar council.
Which means, for now, they give the money to the council and repay it in the next quarter, akin to savings. However, it's clear the council has never repaid, and what they borrow only increases, making this a clear case of bad debt.