The cost for our recent one day assembly was over $21,000. Hefty price tag when there were less than 1000 attending.
BROTHERS & SISTERS - READ THE BROCHURE!
by The Searcher 63 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Slavenomore
ADCMS,
Yea I remember those announcements. It never moved me to give one penny...absolutely bogus money grab. It just made me think the TTATT is hidden in plain sight! What about those lunch encroaching stupid elduh meetings at the ass halls, the ones where we agreed to make up the difference for the inevitable shortfall in donations by plying more money from the Congo in an enforced per publisher donation arrangement? I had a few conversations will some younger elduhs about it, it seemed that didn't pass the sniff test for many.
The searcher,
The cost of remodeling and building is so often much more expensive then bringing in a private GC to to the job. In a local hall the brothers went head to head with the RBC about that, since they got an outside quote (totally against theocrapic direction mind you) and the outside quote was 60000$ cheaper. They turned down the request to have their hall remodeled. I guess their old purple wallpaper vrs the new purple wallpaper was not worth the 220000 remodel to them.
-
AndDontCallMeShirley
One of the tactics the Elders use at the conventions always bothered me: They vote, without ever asking the publisher's permission, to send $5000 to Brooklyn in addition to the exhorbitant Ass Hall rent. Then they have the nerve to say, "so far for this assembly, we have incurred a deficit of $_____. But we are confident you brothers will donate generously to make up the deficit".
Of course there's going to be a deficit! You created a $5,000 additional debt before the "costs" for the assembly were even met. And, is the so-called "deficit" ever announced on Sunday, at the end of the convention? No, it's announced on the first day of the assembly, before they know how much money they'll receive for the two days. Typical approach- guilt trip the rank-and-file into donating even more money. And how arrogant of the elders- just vote to send an additional $5000 of the publisher's money to Brooklyn, but no need to ask if that's okay.
I once asked an Elder how it could possibly cost $9-$10,000 per day to use our own assembly hall? Doesn't any elder ever raise their hand at the noon time "let's create an artificial deficit" meeting for a breakdown of the per-day cost as a justification? His answer, "no, we just approve the amount and agree with everyone else to pay it". And, whatever money is collected over-and-above the convention costs is also sent to Brooklyn, so the circuit always starts with a "zero" balance. It's pay, pay pay and pay some more!!
Isn't it interesting that JWs, even Elders, do not feel it's within their rights to ask where their money is going? WT says to pay, so we are expected to pay.
-
Brother of the Hawk
Have to use hubby's posts since I'm out already. My mom told us about their new ass hall, cost $8M and the COBE of their hall proudly announced that they will have paid for it by the time it is completed. In January they had their special 1 day and Sat morning it was announced that they were already showing a deficit. By concluding comments that afternoon they were needing $12,000 for the expenses. Quite a few in my mom's hall were upset because they thought they were going to be rent free, and only have to pay for utilities.
Wake up people [JW's], it's a scam & racket...
but there was an interesting topic started just an hour ago that goes along with this topic of them always begging for $$$$$
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/250044/1/Elder-and-MS-Extortion
NE
-
Incognito
I understand that the 'costs' presented, have nothing to do with hydro, gas, water, insurance, capital replacements and upgrades, security and other true operational expenses incurred over the year but is instead a per publisher amount which is plucked from the sky and is heavily inflated to provide plenty of exess $.
I've heard some elders try to justify the elevated assembly cost by comparing the cost of attending a professional sporting event or theatrical show. As we would pay a large amount to attend those events, they say we should gladly pay at least the same to Jah. If you recall, similar reasoning was used when suggesting a donation amount for the WT's publications since a person could easily pay $75 for a bible at the bookstore.
I recall many years ago, any excess funds at the conclusion of an assembly would be held over as a starting balance for the next assembly. Now, as you say, every assembly opens with a deficit. The amount of the deficit includes the publisher amount times the publisher number assigned that weekend PLUS any amount that the elders OKed to send to the Society.
-
Lady Lee
marked
-
Satanus
"purple wallpaper'
Gawd, i put up so much of that stuff.
S
-
AndDontCallMeShirley
Incognito said: I've heard some elders try to justify the elevated assembly cost by comparing the cost of attending a professional sporting event or theatrical show. As we would pay a large amount to attend those events, they say we should gladly pay at least the same to Jah.
ADCMS: That reasoning is pretty lame, isn't it? If you think about it, everyone at a sports event or theatrical show is being paid. The facility is charging a lot for rent, etc. You can see why a ticket for a concert or sporting event is so expensive when you have athletes making $15 million a year or an entertainer making $100 million for a concert tour. These are businesses that have high overhead AND make huge profits.
So how can anyone representing WT compare the two things with a straight face? Assembly Hall- mortgage free, built by slave labor, maintained by slave labor. It's a religion so there's no taxes. No paid speakers; no food service, no amenities whatsover. Why can a circuit rent a school auditorium for $1500 a day but it can't use it's own facility for the same cost? You can see a reasonable amount for water, electricity, routine maintenance, etc.- that's only common sense. But, as dissonance_resolved pointed out, they recently had a one-day assembly rent expense of $21,000!! That defies all logic. You start figuring up $10k/dayor more times 40 weekends a year, and that goes way beyond paying for paper towels and paint.
we should gladly pay at least the same to Jah. I wonder what Jehovah's annual income is if he's getting "paid" for all this theocratic activity? He's gotta be at the top of the list near Bill Gates or Warren Buffet! Religion is good business apparently. If he owns everything and can just snap his fingers to get whatever he wants instantly, isn't it amazing that an Elder thinks Jah needs to be "paid". Idiots!
God- making a quick buck off of janitors- doesn't it make you all gushy inside?
Personally, I'd love to see the day when all the average Joe publishers at an assembly refuse to donate anything until a detailed financial accounts report was read from the platform justifying the exhorbitant rent fees. If the explanation doesn't make sense, then no one donates a penny! And, I'd love to see the Elders who vote in the ridiculous extra donation sent to the WT without asking permission have to foot that bill themselves! Since they didn't ask the rank-and-file for permission, then the rank-and-file shouldn't be on the hook for it.
The sad thing is JWs don't even feel they have a right to question any of this. WT says "pay" so the JW gets out his wallet, no questions asked.
-
*lost*
OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is appaling. I'm truly shocked. I had no idea. It's just disgusting. Immoral. And sooooooooooo wrong.
This should be made PUBLIC. To some newspaper or something.
I am so disgusted by this. It's so wrong.
Please God this organisation will get it's 'payment in full'
-
Zordino
What Scumbags! Marking