World Wide Construction comes to a Shuddering Halt - Jehovah's Blessing has Evidently been Suspended! (page 9)

Crazyguy

Someone posted here a month ago or so that they were about to be down graded. that along with them having to pay on a call or some other note because they lost money on Wallstreet is a possibility. These guys are acting like they have a gambling problem and are having to sell off property etc to keep from having their knees broken

DesirousOfChange

so last January was the big meeting with elders. The letter about construction had to have been drafted before it was read, so the very latest it was being composed in late 2014 correct?

So what thing of magnitude would they have been unaware of? Its only been 3 financial quarters since then,

Remember who your source is for your reasoning. Its the WTS itself. Your reasoning is based on the assumption that everything said last January was truthful. It could be that they already knew the building plans were going to have to slow down (or stop), but they had to have a smokescreen to steal all the funds from every Congregation. Now that enough time has passed (in their opinion), or the financial situation has even worsened, the other shoe drops.

Theocratic warfare anyone?

Doc

steve2

None of what I said Millie invalidates your views. Using a worst case scenario is one way of approaching this (e.g., Enron). Another is to simply wait to see what unfurls.

If I suggested that having one's own legal team prevents the worst from happening, then I could be called to account. But I don't think I did say that. What I said was, JW organization's own legal team would not be in the dark about these developments and indeed, would be advising what the best response is.

I see no contradiction between the positive letter about construction last year and the upcoming announcement about calling a halt. It could be part of a strategy, as DesirousofChange suggests.

Dagney

With WBTS, it's only and always about the money. The changes in the excess of printing should have happened 20 if not 30 years ago..what a waste of time and money while thousands of magazines and books languished in closets and basements. Consolidated meeting materials makes perfect sense. I thought they should lose the WAT and AW for FS and just print a quarterly brochure and effectively cover their territory using those.

Revamping the meetings, (although not really), was a savvy attempt to keep the attendance numbers up to "all 5 meetings." Fewer qualified elders to oversee the school is a situation in my area. Using MS's to conduct 2nd school, very little participation...the TMS just isn't what it used to be...again in my area. It needed a huge change and it makes sense what they did, I think.

The biggest outlay of cash is the monthly support of the full time workers, Bethel/missionaries/DO's etc. It only makes sense to revamp and reduce that expense. Now they don't rely on flexible donations but debit the congregations for a set amount, that was smart. Selling their prime real estate at the top of the market, creating their own bunkers makes sense to me.

The court settlements and losses, and the cost of litigation, those are things they out of their control and they must budget for it. It already looks like they are moving money around to show how "poor" they are. Believe me, they have expert advisers in regards to their finances. They are a corporation, and a corporation only makes decisions to keep itself in existence.

I could be very very wrong, but I think the WBTS coffers are full. The RBC was a brilliant money making scam. But, they have to change they way they were doing business. The stipends that went out for thousands of full time workers are now going to at least some victims of abuse. That's a pleasant thought.

It's also a pleasant thought that their master revamp building program is on hold. That is very interesting. It's all very interesting.

millie210

DesirousOfChange8 hours agoso last January was the big meeting with elders. The letter about construction had to have been drafted before it was read, so the very latest it was being composed in late 2014 correct?
So what thing of magnitude would they have been unaware of? Its only been 3 financial quarters since then,
Remember who your source is for your reasoning. Its the WTS itself. Your reasoning is based on the assumption that everything said last January was truthful. It could be that they already knew the building plans were going to have to slow down (or stop), but they had to have a smokescreen to steal all the funds from every Congregation. Now that enough time has passed (in their opinion), or the financial situation has even worsened, the other shoe drops.
Theocratic warfare anyone?
Doc

Thanks Doc, I get your point and see how what you are saying works if they are doing this as part of a plan to bilk the flock.

I am working from a different theory I guess.

I think when they called the elders together and when they read that letter about the biggest building work the world has ever known, they meant it.

I think they thought it was coming to pass...C.O.s were all excitedly saying "wait till you see whats coming..." and then voila...the letter and the plans for construction on a ramped up level.

Of course, I have no insider info and could be completely wrong. Probably am in fact!

millie210

I lappreciate hearing your reasoning because it sounds like you have a good head for these type of things Steve,

I wasnt thinking so much of what you said about the Orgs legal team as I was what you said about their financial advisors.

Im sure they run P&L statements every quarter. No one saw this coming in 3 quarters of book work?

That is really hard to believe.

(which I agree could add weight to what you and Doc think, that maybe this was being orchestrated on some level)

I am looking at this from a different angle though.

I absolutely do not think they wanted to have to announce the layoffs and construction halt. I dont think this is part of a plan.

I think when they bragged about the greatest building work the world had ever seen they fully thought they were going to do it. Remember how they stated they would buy properties not even for sale yet?

Very cocky.

Now this.

But I do have to say...I dont know anyone or any real info whatsoever. Im just guessing.

Phizzy

In all my years in the JW's, and since leaving, I have only ever seen the JW leaders be reactive. Obviously they make plans, but they don't have a Chrystal ball and those plans can go awry.

They have knee-jerk reactions because their forward planning is so poor. This must be because they have never employed top advisors from the real world.

This latest panic change in policy seems to have been forced upon them by something that has come out of the blue for them.

Maybe their investments in things like China and Volkswagen, if they have them, don't look so good now, and any advisor will tell them that the next few years are going to be a rocky ride. They cannot rely either on their Property Portfolio rising in value as it has in the past, and they cannot rely on being able to sell and rebuild to the extent they have in the past. Many Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls are not an easy sale.

All they have left is the option of more downsizing and cost-cutting, but even that may not save them.

username

Londo1114 days ago

It wouldn't surprise me if eventually Kingdom Halls were sold and people were told to meet in private homes in preparation for the Great Tribulation.

I really think you may have a point here Londo. We only have to look at a few of the latest publications and their photographs of JW's conducting the study in basements. If one wants to truly sell a story or a product, using imagery is the most powerful tool in ones armory.

Vidiot

millie210 - "I'm sure they run P&L statements every quarter. No one saw this coming in 3 quarters of book work? That is really hard to believe."

I dunno.

I think it's believable if you assume that the GB, as all-in True Believers, fully expected all the congregations' "stealth-tithe" pledges to actually be met...

...and that therefore, the fact that those pledges were consistently not met took them by surprise.

Londo111

It been 40 years since the GB officially took the reigns of the organization...this is what 40 years of rule by committee gets you.

World Wide Construction comes to a Shuddering Halt - Jehovah's Blessing has Evidently been Suspended!

so last January was the big meeting with elders. The letter about construction had to have been drafted before it was read, so the very latest it was being composed in late 2014 correct?

So what thing of magnitude would they have been unaware of? Its only been 3 financial quarters since then,

Theocratic warfare anyone?

Doc

Londo1114 days ago

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