JW Gonebad:"WT is house rich and cash poor...they have all their worth tied-up in Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, ect, etc with very little in liquid assets like cash"
Most sensible businesses, and lets face it, the WT corporation is a business, use their assets to generate income. Back when the WT was selling stuff, the Kingdom Halls were basically distribution centres, or warehouses, where the sales staff would pick up their merchandise and receive their instructions on today's sales route. Now that they aren't actually selling anything, that warehouse model isn't working. They have assets sitting idle and clocking up expenses like insurance and utilities.
So what does a business do if it is in the business of owning meeting halls? A sane business in that line would rent out their meeting halls. Where I live, the various small startup churches, that can't afford their own buildings, meet in school assembly halls and other community centres, presumably paying some rental. If the WT weren't such snobs, they could rent out purpose built space to such groups. And to the scouts and other such groups.
But of course, the WT is very big on appearances and not associating with the wrong crowd. Unless it's the UN or some other group that benefits them in some way. Remember their amicus curiae brief with Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, back when the whole "should churches pay sales tax" thing started? That's when the decline started. The Watchtower's stubborn refusal to pay taxes to the superior authorities meant that they eventually stopped selling their magazines door to door, and eventually ended up where they are today, with no golden income streams.
I don't see them renting out Kingdom Halls any time soon. So I guess they are going to have to keep selling them until they run out of them. 🙄
