HECCE- Interesting thread, thanks for posting it. This trend is happening everywhere right now- especially in the United States as I have been made aware of numerous kingdom halls going up for sale in Washington, California, etc. My son in law ( a JW ) expressed concern that in his little mountain community congregation - that the elders were saying there isn't enough money to do repairs so the WT Society was telling his elders to consider selling the kingdom hall property and building.
This annoyed him as he told me then he and my daughter would have to drive 30 miles south or 30 miles north to just attend the nearest kingdom hall ! He just shook his head - not seeming too fond of the idea.
I truly believe we are going to see the " true dishonest colors " and greed come forth very visibly with the WT leaders in the next 5 years or so. This organization is being hammered with child abuse lawsuits all over the world, and WT Society's credit rating has gone to shit with Bank of America who blackballed them for defaulting on construction loans, which probably means they cannot get credit with other major lenders now for construction. Which is another reason they've had to stop construction all over the world and send workers home- except of course not their upstate New York facility - that's priority where the " big boys " will live - so it's considered more important.
These WT leaders are such dishonest weasels it's not even funny. And the sad thing about it - is rank & file JW's are none the wiser. They are having the wool pulled over their eyes- and they don't even realize it. Really a tragedy