Finkeistein,
They know, it is announced in every assembly. Did you not get a financial statement when attended the assemblies? You built the place with your money and then, every time there is an assembly, you will be told how much it has costed so far. When an assembly is made at a third party venue, this is undertandable. When it is made at the Assembly Hall of JWs, then it is not so understandable. Speacially when the "Rent" for the hall happens to be 5 times higher than that of a third party place.
The same happens to KH and regular congregations. You build the hall with donated funds, the same people who dontated the money to make the construction loan, also pay for the loan. It used to be a regular loan with interest, it is now a perpetual payment to the society, who now own the hall. This is no different than the way banks work. You deposit your money, they make loans with your own money (provided the fractional banking system lends money that is printed out of your own), you pay for the loan made out of your own money and they take the difference. It is such a incidious and evil financial system that many, including religions, have a attempted to create one of its own, on their own way but similar in nature.
We recently remodeled our hall. I rememeber when I fisrt began attending, I use to think of how great deal of transparency there was. Then I began to find out the details on how it happens. It turns out we payed over $800 a month for the loan, for a hall that was built with used parts from another one, like the light fixtures and bathroom amenities. After that, when we were a couple of years away from paying it off, we expanded it. We remodeled it at the end of 2013. We changed the carpets, sounds system, added cameras, painted and re worked the outside trimiming. Changed out all the bathroom fixtures (toilets tubs, etc) relocated the platform (not sure why) and that is about it. The most expensive part was expanding the parking lot, to fit another 8 spaces. I also found out thru some brothers that as the old, used light fixtures were being replaced, the old ones mixed up with the new ones. So we don't know where but it happened. The total cost of the remodeling, 130K. Mind you this is in an area where a 2100 sq ft brick home can be built, brand new on a 1/2 acre lot, for a whopping 100K. And we paid 130K for a mere remodeling.
Just 3 months after the project was finished, the new arrangement was announced, effectively locking us in for good. I am also aware that at least another 5 halls were remodeling on this time frame, in the same area.
Have you ever payed attention to the many donation arrangements that exists within the WTBTS? Most of us understand that donating to your church means giving money, expecting nothing but blessings in return ( i dont mean that literally). The WTBTS has some arrangement that entail having your money returned, or even paying your a lifetime annuity. Leaving aside the fact that there is no scriptural support for this, I don't understand how they can honestly promote practices that are so open to exploitation and corruption. You see, you can donate money to the society and they will pay you back a return in the form of an annuity. They even remind you that this is a way to wise tax planning for you.
-The annuity arrangement will require them to have a certain amount of confidence in their ability to handle money flow. They can not paid if they don't earn. It is a type of gift annuity, as far as I understand, so it technically means that the money you put in, will never be returned. The sooner your die, the better chances that they will not pay you out as much as you payed them (catching!). I have not yet researched if such annuity can be passed on to your survivors. In any case, they need to do something productive with the money you gave them, otherwise, how is all this accounting going to balance out?
- Same goes for the conditional donations, where you can donate money and request it back at a later time. This can be used as leverage in both, the real state market, as well as the stock and financial markets. If you recall, a couple of years ago there was a WT article warning against the risk of trying to become too rich, too quick. An example was presented of a young man who decided to go into the stock market and traded with "borrowed money". It then goes on to explain how he lost it all and had to work really hard to get out of the hole. Most likely, they were talking about trading on leverage, not an actual loan. They are not the same. This is the same type of practice that brought some financial institutions to their knees in 2008. I am pretty sure the WTBTS will be doing the same with the money they are "borrowing" from the donor. If and when the donor reclaims his donation, and if there is not enough money to pay out everyone, this is what is known as a "margin call" or a "run on the bank". Depending in which category the money falls.
Off course, it can not be said that they are a bank, but once you understand how banks work, you will quickly see the similarities. Banks have an authorization to print money. This is such a powerfull gift, that countless ways to imitate it, away from regulators, have been attempted.
