The current financial crisis of Watchtower in historical context (part 1)

by slimboyfat 165 Replies latest members private

  • Fisherman
    Fisherman
    What's their new way of making money? One short sentence as above would suffice.

    Hopefully, JW will realize that they should do more than volunteer their time ( as SBF has brilliantly shown.) JW should realize after decades that they should desire to contribute -and contribute voluntarily.

    WT is restricted from offering products or services for a price -set or suggested- without being subject to tax.

  • shepherdless
    shepherdless
    What's their new way of making money? One short sentence as above would suffice.

    Well since noboy else is giving a straight answer, I will give it a go.

    The new way of making money is to produce a fantastic, spiritual and uplifting multmedia channel to carry out the function of Jehovah's mouthpiece, and in return, JWs will shower the Borg with donations, and people will love the "spiritual food" so much that more members will join.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  • Ruby456
    Ruby456

    thanks sparky1. I can't take all the credit though as it was this post of coded Logic that sparked me thinking along those lines

    Concerning the OP, does anyone really think the GB is running the finances?
    As I understand it, the GB involvement is almost entirely in scriptural and doctrinal matters. They spend way too much time traveling and speaking to be real CEOs. Isn't there a whole army of numbers guys and lawyers who are actually running the show (organisation)?
    I'm not sure that the "Splane can't figure generations out therefore he can't run the empire" is necessarily the best argument.coded logic
  • _Morpheus
    _Morpheus

    They will never let the org die. If the cut backs wernt working and projecting to be enough they would simply tithe.

    they will tithe before they die.

  • hybridous
    hybridous
    they will tithe before they die.
  • Dagney
    Dagney

    The WT has had a high powered, aggressive CPA at the head of financial matters since the early 80's and full time since the mid nineties. He is now the Secretary/Treasurer. His job is to keep the corporation going. IMHO, the figures they let the publishers see mean nothing, I mean as far as the viability of the corporation.

    I don't think he could have anticipated the expense of the legal problems, but under his guidance they will trim, invest/divest...do whatever to keep the corporation afloat. All their moves, though surprising, are smart financially, which is all that matters to a corporation. They have millions from the real estate sell off. The printing might have brought in millions but it was an expensive operation, and not efficient in today's world.

    If they can keep countries self sufficent for the most part, as in the KH charge offsetting the stipends for the full time workers, and the congregations support their expenses, cost to HQ could be quite low in the big picture. They take full advantage of government provisions for non-profits/charities in countries. It is all a money game and they know what they are doing.

    I hope the recent spotlight on shunning, pedophilia, etc. will keep the legal team busy with settlements.

  • sparky1
    sparky1

    In case anyone does not clearly understand my position, I will repeat it now. At least slimboyfat understands me and has already quoted my one sentence back in one of his posts on page 5. For anyone that does not wish to go back to his post and take a look, I will repeat it for you:

    "Let's become 'Slum Lords' and the new "Golden Age' of real estate cash flow falls in their lap." Or to describe it more succinctly: "They are now in the business of collecting perpetual rent money."

  • Fisherman
    Fisherman
    collecting perpetual rent money - Sparky

    As I stated to you before, that is an astute observation pointing this out to this thread. I wonder how many people had realized this.

    However, how do you figure from what funds wt will collect rents and what will happen when the tenants can't pay? ( which seems to be the problem at hand)

    Also, the blanket is too short to cover both KH expenses and the "rent"; what happens when the lights are turned off for not paying the utilities? And who has been paying the bills lately when donations don't cover them?

    So, it is all the same thing whether or not wt collects rents: voluntary contributions.

  • sparky1
    sparky1

    Let's move on to part 2, please. I'd like to know the rest of the story.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    The problem with the rent idea, as I understand it, is that congregations are under no legal or fixed obligation to send a certain amount to Watchtower. The amount the congregation sends has been agreed by the elders. If congregation contributions are not high enough to support the agreed amount then it will need to be lowered at some point.

    Additionally I've noticed that, ever since the congregations have been sending money to Watchtower, the amount contributed to the world wide work box has dropped dramatically. Watchtower may find that they've increased contributions from congregations only to lose the same amount (or worst case scenario, lose more) in contributions direct from publishers.

    In principle we should be able to work out what effect the new arrangement has had on overall contributions (up or down) from the charity financial documents published in the United Kingdom. (And other countries where these are available) I will be surprised if the new arrangement doesn't result in lower overall contributions within a few years.

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