In 2009, they reported 118 Branches
In 2011, they reported 98 Branches. A net loss of 20 Branches in 2 years.
They are selling off Kingdom Halls, here and there - sometimes packing several congregations into one Hall where one per building was the rule.Not compassionate where weather or other traveling factors could injure publishers..... and they're selling off some Assembly Halls, too.
Brooklyn et al is being sold - and you already know about all the many cutbacks, layoffs and the downsizing of magazines.
Why?
Cutting back on printing should balance itself, eventually and selling off Brooklyn should easily pay for their upstate country club, with much left over.
What is going on?
I wonder: is it possible that they have utterly lost faith in their own doctrines and future - and are cynically liquidating everything to collectively enrich themselves?
Now, I would admit that their intrusive, hair-splitting efforts at control - as with the Porn letter to elders- is evidence to the contrary. However, even in totalitarian organizations, there can be radically different goals by factions ESPECIALLY if they are in decay overall. More than that, the porn letter shows how ethically expedient they have become....
So, as the cult/empire/government starts to fail, some guys become ever more fanatical - while others quietly lose faith and prepare for the inevitable downfall. You also have bureaucracies that keep on doing whatever they were assigned, regardless of whether it makes sense anymore.
There have already been cases in which, 'one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing' within the Watchtower, as when various alliterate members of the Governing Body didn't bother keeping up with whatever the latest magazines said (Henschel and others). Or when they offered a graphic brochure encouraging youth to make a career of Bethel - while simultaneously rejecting most women and dumping older Bethelites. It isn't always rank hypocrisy: sometimes they're just collective idiots.
And don't ever think that Old Timers In Power don't have severe doubts - or, yes, outright disbelief in the 'truth'. If you're old and made this fraud your whole life, you learn to keep your mouth shut and kiss a$$. Maybe there is no Jehovah, so what else do I do now?
Here's my conclusion: the organization is in transition towards being quietly dominated by disbelief and outright exploitation of the publishers. There is still sincerity thruout but that outlook is fading away. Money talks. This organization has always been loaded with schmoes and lackeys eager to be abused and led by a Rutherford - or whatever cold-hearted jerk happens to get 'appointed'.
The sad thing about this is that this attitude could lead to transitioning into becoming a 'denomination' since their cultish ideas would no longer be an obstacle. However, I think that would require a greater enlightened self interest than they have shown thus far. A selfish retirement looks more likely.
metatron