Short-sighted WT ?

Tech49

It has always struck me that WT is so very short-sighted in many things. Often, they are very RE-active, and not so much PRO-active in their reasoning and the way they plan for the future.

Just thinking today, and have kicked this one around for a while now.

Is the Watchtower organization truly sustainable? Is a new monetary structure on the horizon? Here is why I ask this, and welcome all of your thoughts....

FACT: Cash donations coming from the congregations are meager at best.

FACT: With every month that goes by, more and more KH’s are sold, with none being built.

FACT: The growth of the organization has slowed or halted, and sometimes gone in revers, in most 1st world countries.

FACT: Multi-million dollar lawsuits and subsequent pay-offs are occurring almost weekly.

As was mentioned by Stephen Lett not long ago, the organization’s expenses are exceeding their income. Probably far more than they are letting on. Is it sustainable?

In order to keep and maintain the carnivorous budget requirements, including the construction and continued maintenance of a multi-million dollar corporate headquarters in addition to other facilities, the cash has to keep flowing in at an unprecedented rate. Hence the perceived "need" to consolidate and sell off properties. But that too, by its very nature, is not sustainable.

Doesn’t it make sense that within a reasonable amount of time, at some point, all the “extra” and “superfluous” Kingdom Halls will have been sold off.? Even as they are selling properties, the total brought in cant really be that much, given what they are giving up. It takes quite a few KH buildings to make up for legal expenses and payoffs of lawsuits. Example: Lets say a KH property can be sold for $500,000 USD. Those funds can get eaten up pretty fast when you start talking lawsuits, outside legal fees, payoffs, etc. But the bigger thing to consider is that is a one-time cash grab. That particular building is now GONE, forever. You cant make money off of it again. However, another lawsuit can pop up in place of the other one... TOMORROW!

And so ok, what if they have a bunch of cash tied into stocks. Right now, things are moving along well, and maybe they are making money. But what happens when, not if, but WHEN, the stock market or housing market takes a nosedive like it did 12 years ago?

From a business model perspective, the whole mess is unsustainable and severely lopsided in its construction. Realistically, its like a bad gambling debt that just cant be dug out from. I'm sure there are plenty of other analogies that illustrate the point, but I think you can understand the issue.

I guess the other aspect of all of this is that the sheeple in general are completely oblivious, its almost as if they don't WANT to see the crash coming.

What say you?

sir82

They will institute tithing at an individual level (there is a form of it at the congregational level now) when necessity compels them to.

It will of course be named something different, and may not be a literal 10%, but I'd be very surprised if it is not fully in place within the next 10 years.

john.prestor

For all intents and purposes the organization serves the interests of the Governing Body and their helpers and a few other elites worldwide, Branch committees and Bethel heavies, Circuit Overseers, and that's pretty much it anymore since they axed the Special Pioneers and District Overseers. Most of these elites are pretty old by now, at least in their 40s if not 50s or 60s, they don't need to worry about 20 years down the line they'll be dead by then. Because the organization's concern is their concern, because they run the organization and enjoy a comfortable, leisurely, sometimes luxurious lifestyle through the organization they 'serve,' I doubt they think about the next generation very much. While the organization declines year-by-year it's not going anywhere fast, and as long as they keep retaining kids they can and will continue existing for the next 50 to 100 years in some diminished form of their former glory. Yeah, they aint gonna print as much, theyll lat off more Bethelites, sell more Kingdom Halls, keep hanging on the donation drum, but they won't just dry up and vanish like some prehistoric lake.

No fall but preceded by a declination.

Dubtown

also factor in when the next global recession comes, somewhere between 2019-2025and property prices fall and people lose jobs and watchtower income drops dramatically again, how sustainable is their business model?

careful

Where's slimboyfat? He'd love this one!

Vidiot

I've said this before, but in what crazy-ass, fucked-up mirror universe are...

...steadily reduced revenue flow, regular liquidation of hard assets, and constant legal fees and settlements (all of which show no signs of easing up)...

...signs of robust, sustainable financial health?

Back when I started fading, It never would have occurred to me that money problems would cause the Org the most difficulties.

Vidiot

In response to this...

Tech49 - "...It has always struck me that WT is so very short-sighted in many things..."

That's a very easy habit to fall into (and definitely the kind of decision-making blunders on makes) when you've convinced yourself that God's got your back no matter what, you surround yourself solely with individuals who are never allowed to disagree with you, and you control the lives of millions.

Tech49

Its definitely the disposal of the tangible, finite, hard assets that will come to an end within a given period. Like sir82, the first thought that popped into my head was 10 years. It doesn't seem logical that this particular business model can go more than around 10 years. Now I'm not saying the sky is falling and WT will go out of business. But I do believe that there will be a DRASTIC change in the way they obtain funding in the near future.

The obvious ones come to mind, I'm sure there are many more ways that are being dreamed up by the Holy Quarum: mandatory tithing, in whatever form they want to call it..., electronic printing across the board, no more physical publications and all that goes along with it (printeries, binderies, presses, supplies, etc)...…., online KH's, with actual physical brick and mortar buildings becoming a rarity, much like the assembly halls...…..online and internet-based meetings from a central location, with a subscription fee...…….. pay-to-play visits to the NY headquarters, admission fees to the holy mecca with a yearly mandatory visit for all "true" Christians (following the example of the first century xtians of course)…….

Anyways...….. I can see changes coming.

WillYouDFme

Short sighted WT is never an issue when the "Flock" can't remember what they were told to believe last year.

And their expenses are minimal compared to the money they have coming in.
Remember over 2 billion in property sales in a pretty short time.

They have zeroed out or greatly reduced there top expensives over the last 5 or 6 years.
They will continue to do that.

FedUpJW

It will of course be named something different,

The monthly "voluntary" offering to Gee-HO-Vuh via the eldurr monitored use of the web-site. If you don't contribute you will be marked as "brazenly" refusing instructions that "do not seem practical from a human standpoint" and summarily shunned until you do give until it hurts.

Short-sighted WT ?

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