First, there are the new financial commitments to science and technology.
The industrialized world is afraid of new financial commitments at a time of slow growth and widespread recession.
But the cost may mean new financial commitments by already strapped governments that need to cut their own budgets, and a further loss of credibility in global financial markets.
The final conference document, while calling on governments to reinforce efforts to meet the MDG target of reducing hunger by half by 2015, contained no new financial commitments for doing so.
One impediment to the sector's recovery is a vast backlog of unsold inventory, while a shaky job market has also made consumers reluctant to embark on any major new financial commitments.
Even with the new financial commitments that the BBC has taken on, this model has generally been more resilient during the financial crisis than the funding mechanisms for southern European public broadcasters, which tend to rely on a mix of sources.
It is projecting an operating budget of as much as $8 million a year, or almost triple its current expenses, and it is doing so at a time when the aftermath of the recession has made both public and private donors cautious about taking on any new financial commitments.
A lead producer of the $12 million Broadway musical "Rebecca" said on Friday that he had received new financial commitments from investors to make up a $4.5 million gap in its capitalization budget, and that he had informed cast members that rehearsals could start next week.
But the city has not reached a decision, and given that agencies were just ordered to cut $1.5 billion from the budget over two years, any new financial commitments — even small ones, like the $40,000 per month the ferry company says it would need — strike some people as uncertain at best.
However, it added there were "a number of inescapable new financial commitments which need to be met".
Beyond its new financial commitments to Hendrickson and LaBoy, Wasserman purchased a stake in Orr Hockey Group, founded by Hall of Famer Bobby Orr and with over forty NHL player clients including former MVP Connor McDavid.
