Main reason why Jaracz and company won't budge

by What-A-Coincidence 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  It's not about money - for the most aged guys like Jaracz.

  Think about it: You're really old, you can't enjoy food like you used to, your wife is wrinkled and half demented,

  you probably have little interest in sex, anyway and couldn't get it up if you did.

  What's left?

  Ego and the lust for power - as manifest by an organization in which your word is the Law of God, in effect.

  - that and the intense aversion to admitting to yourself that you've wasted your life chasing after a bogus

  hope. For many, that's too much to confront.

  metatron
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  I still am amazed at how Ray Franz was able to break away and keep his sanity.
• 

  Poztate

  You're saying that the WTS hierarchy would dispense untruths, deceive, manipulate and demand unwavering worship from the flock in order to protect and perpetuate their own easy, high-living, power structure lifestyle at the expense of their constituency's individual freedom of choice in the domains of education, employment, marriage, recreation, health care, dress, and sex?

  Is that what you're saying?

  NO...He is not saying that but I will...They are liars,thieves and only look after themselves at the expense of the flock.
• 

  What-A-Coincidence

  What's left? Ego and the lust for power

  Yes. BUT WITHOUT THE MONEY (CONTRIBUTIONS) THERE IS NO POWER!!! They need the money to feed there ego!!!
• 

  Alpheta

  Good morning everyone! It's a beautiful day here, not too hot and not too humid (for a change). I'm eager to get out and tackle that yard work, it's what I do to de-stress myself. But before I go out to my enjoyment, I wanted to add my two cents.

  Money, as many of you have noted, is the real crux of the problem for the WTBTS. I'm now up to "Page" 76 in my reading from the beginning (LOL) and it's been a recurring theme in posts since they started. I left in October, 2003. One of the things that disturbed me before I DA'd was the increasing references to money, they always needed more, more, more and it came up in more, more and more talks. For a religion that prides itself on not passing the collection plate, the increasing references to the need for money became overt and blatant. Money needed for building kingdom halls in Africa (judging from the pictures in the WT mags, how much could they have possibly cost, for goodness sake!); for car insurance and cars for the people on the road; for building maintenance; to overcome deficits at circuit assemblies and district assemblies. We went from cold lunches being provided at the assemblies to no food being provided but the expenses for the assemblies kept going up and up. I didn't sit and do the math or write down figures that were read out; but during the time the lunches were being provided, it seems looking back we went from having small surpluses at the end of the event to, after food service was stopped, having ever-increasing deficits.

  It's been pointed out in many posts; the people who have the money, that is, the people in the "developed" nations, are leaving. And, as Blondie pointed out in other posts, those who are stating are "voting" with their pocketbooks, i.e., they are not happy with what is going on in NY and they are NOT contributing for mags, books and the WWW; they are contributing to maintain their local kingdom halls, and that's it. Growth is primarily coming from Spanish congregations in the US (not the wealthiest segment of the society) and in third-world countries where the average annual earnings are a few hundred bucks a year. So even if the Society can maintain the growth numbers of 300,000 a year for, say, the next 10 years, these brothers and sisters cannot contribute the kind of $$$ that those did who have left or those who are staying but have stopped contributing to NY.

  Coupled with what I see as a foregone conclusion of the eventual application of legal precedents that have allowed HUGE judgments because of sexual abuse by pedophiles to be entered against various Roman Catholic diocese (sp?) to suits against the WTBTS currently wending their way through various courts in US and Canada, the potential for workers compensation laws to be applied to the Society (the lady chiropractor case), the potential for local municipalities to impose property taxes on the land holdings of local congregations (like the recent case in Canada), the never-ending threat of imposition of sales taxes, the money crunch is only going to get worse for the Society and the local congregations.

  And during all of this, the Society is dumping thousands of ex-Bethelites on the local congregations whom they will be expected to provide support.

  I don't think it takes a genius to see the proverbial "handwriting on the wall." Let's see, what were those words? Something like "you have been judged and found wanting; your days are numbered."

  I'm off to the gardens!
• 

  Gregor

  Interesting scenario. I think most of us on here have imagined (hoped) that the WTS might be brought to its knees through exposure of its lies and members disillusionment with failed predictions. But how would these things actually play out? Could it be as simple as plain old cash flow? Makes sense.
• 

  AuldSoul

  Alpheta,

  I agree. However, I believe the dissemination of accurate information about the WTS is a huge factor in the reduction of their funding base.

  Alpheta: How much could [the African Kingdom Halls] have possibly cost?

  Roughly $10,000 USD per Hall, after my uncle got there. My uncle, Roger Montgomery, was a Kingdom Construction Servant for years, serving in Tanzania and helping plan building projects in several neighboring countries. This was the same uncle who basically wrote the current YMCA membership doctrine and whose life experience appeared in Awake! The money is not as big an issue for these Halls as is finding enough skilled labor (which doesn't even have to be very skilled) in the areas where the Halls are built.

  There is a distinct difference with NPO (non-profit organization) assets. At the end of the year, any liquid assets left over are taxed at the regular Corporate rate which means that an NPO has strong incentive to dump all liquid assets into some real estate holding, depreciable asset, or place the money into some other "holding pattern", which means that although the WTS is property rich, it is liquid asset poor.

  An NPO is not (ostensibly) in business to make money. However, there are ways to legally shift money from the non-profit sector into the for-profit sector and establish assets from the pool of non-profit contributions that are accessible by the leadership.

  One such method would be to establish a for-profit company through a near-relation to a Governing Body member, such as through the Father-In-Law of Judah Ben Schroeder, who is the son of the late Albert Schroeder. This would create a legally separate for-profit corporation with "off-paper" loyalty ties to the WTS.

  Perhaps the for-profit Corporation might position itself as a legal procurer of a good or service on behalf of the Watchtower Society, such as bulk-purchased automobiles, the money for the purchase of which comes from funds donated to the Watchtower Society in furtherance of the Worldwide Work. A substantial fee is understandably charged by the for-profit company for performing this service. The for-profit company then legally (on paper) changes hats and becomes a leasing company managing the leasing of these vehicles on behalf of the Watchtower Society.

  An organization subsidiary to the Watchtower Society then leases the cars from the leasing company which its parent organization just bought and paid for. The lease fees are also paid for from the funds donated in furtherance of the Worldwide Work. When the lease expires, the vehicles are then sold by the leasing company on a for-profit basis for slightly more than the original bulk purchase price, and the leasing company understandably charges a hefty fee for providing this service of selling the leased vehicles.

  In this way, money can be moved out of the Worldwide Work fund and into the private sector with no one being the wiser and the organization being legally covered on all sides. Ethically, such a thing would be an egregious overstepping of their stated purposes. This course of action would be bankrupt of anything remotely resembling morality. But financially, this arrangement would be incredibly lucrative for those involved "off-paper" in the legally defensible skimming of donated funds.

  They will ride the horse until the horse dies, then they will dismount.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul (of the "Let's Put the Horse Out of Its Misery" class)
• 

  AlanF

  Good insights, as usual, metatron.

  James Woods said:

  : Does anybody actually believe that Jaracz and his boys personally go door to door and sell the magazines like they expect the R & F to do?

  Actually, I have it on good authority that Jaracz is among the few JW leaders who actually does this. But Jaracz is also among the few JW leaders who is insane enough to actually believe his own bullcrap.

  AuldSoul said:

  : But financially, this arrangement would be incredibly lucrative for those involved "off-paper" in the legally defensible skimming of donated funds.

  Of course, and it goes without saying that the beneficiaries of such an arrangement will in turn give "the green handshake" to the appropriate JW leaders.

  Many don't know that this "green handshake" can be quite lucrative for WTS officials. I'm morally certain that many GB members have become what most of us would consider wealthy as a result. Take Circuit Overseers as the lowest level example. I have it on good authority that many of these guys who serve relatively well-off areas in the U.S. receive on the order of $500 a week in cash donations from local JWs. This is tax free, because accepting such donations is a violation of the "vow of poverty" they all have to take to ensure that the Society doesn't get hit with tax bills. So that's like $25,000 a year free and clear. Now consider that these guys have almost no living expenses that normal people have -- no rent or house payments, no car payments, no utilities, the Society pays for their health insurance, much of their food is provided by local JWs, etc. -- and you can see that they can bank a lot more money than most U.S. citizens can.

  AlanF
• 

  serendipity

  Hi Auld Soul,

  such as through the Father-In-Law of Judah Ben Schroeder, who is the son of the late Albert Schroeder. This would create a legally separate for-profit corporation with "off-paper" loyalty ties to the WTS.

  Is this a fact or is this speculation/rumor?
• 

  AuldSoul

  serendipity,

  The Circuit Leasing Program is a for-profit enterprise wholly owned and operated by Judah Ben Schroeder's father-in-law.

  Every aspect of the arrangement is completely legal and above board as far as the US government is concerned, but I suspect many rank and file JWs would believe it is an unethical arrangement and an abuse of their intent in making voluntary donations to the Worldwide Work.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul