Putting the Pieces Together - A Religion Becomes a Printing Company Becomes a Real Estate Tycoon

by donuthole 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  donuthole

  The Watchtower has a problem. They have a huge influx of profit off the sale of their Brooklyn properties. There are hints that some of it may be taxable. What to do with the money? Donate it to shell corporations!

  Let's call one of them the Paradiseville Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc. The Watchtower recently expanded real estate department has determined that Paradiseville is an expanding market near an emerging tech sector. Analysis is that property values could double in a short time.

  The Watchtower, through their Regional Building Committee gestapo, determines that Paradiseville needs a new Kingdom Hall. And they've got just the location for it.

  The old outdated hall built in 1995 is sold with the money going to the Watchtower (along with anything left in their bank accounts). Luckily, they recently renovated and put in windows which conviently helped it to sell better.

  The new Kingdom Hall are built by JW contractors who bill above market rate for materials and services rendered by volunteer labor. The JW contractors then kick-back the Watchtower the difference.

  Back to brothers and sisters in Paradiseville who have a gorgeous new Kingdom Hall. It is top-of-line and uses one of those fancy new Kingdom Hall plans. Along with the key is a hefty "voluntary" donation to be paid each month until the end of time (which is just around the corner, dontchaknow.)

  We jump into the future and the Paradiseville Congregation has fallen into hard times. The cost of living in the area has raised and though there are more windows, its hard for the window washers to make rent. Some families have moved out and those that are left are struggling to pay the monthly "voluntary" donation -- in fact they have fallen behind a couple of months.

  The Watchtower determines that Paradiseville Congregation is no longer growing and financially viable. The congregation corporation is dissolved and their assets go to the Watchtower. The Kingdom Hall is sold with the money going back to the Watchtower, part of a pool of cash that gets washed through thousands of franchise corporations, makes a nice profit, and comes back home.

  Meanwhile the friends from Paradiseville now have to drive an hour away to attend a Kingdom Hall in Kingdomville. With the increase in gas costs they are really hurting.

  Kingdomville is now getting a little cramped, especially on Sundays, but not to worry, the Watchtower is making plans to build them a new double-sized Kingdom Hall in the nice part of town ...
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  donuthole

  Things to look for:
  
  Increase in Kingdom Hall Builds and Renovations. After the new donation arrangement goes into affect look for a followup boasting from the Watchtower about how many Kingdom Halls are being built thanks to the new arrangement.
  
  Other Real Estate Purchases

  Look for different kinds of development that we haven't seen before -- things like a retirement village for CO's or retail space in high traffic cities. There is potential that larger assembly halls will be constructed and rented buildings will cease to be used.
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  dozy

  I remember the CEO of MacDonalds saying that essentially his company was a property firm with a sideline in food retail. Essentially that's all the Society ever has been - a book publishing & distribution company ( using free labour ) and property development & resale (again using free labour ) with a sideline as a religion. Russell was first and foremost a businessman who found that religion was more lucrative than supermarkets ( with the added advantage that being "God's anointed faithful slave" made him more popular with the ladies - ditto Rutherford - somewhat to the chagrin of their wives ).

  The real issue in recent times for the Society is that the book and magazine selling division is struggling ( with the onset of the free distribution arrangement ). It just isn't a model that works any longer ( hence the emphasis on jw.org ). I remember as a child placing 30+ magazines on a Saturday morning. All sold - paid for - cash straight to the WTBTS. You could place books easily as well - at one time we were doing the society offer 4 for a pound and selling loads. Before I left a few years ago , I struggled to give away a pair for free. And I can't remember the last book I placed - it's that long ago.

  Hence the need for the WTBTS to ramp up it's property sales division. They look like they are in a real cash crunch - I would do exactly as they have done - fire sale of as many non core international branches as possible and a constant flipping of existing sites. Its a no brainer. You can be sure that in 15 / 20 years time the WTBTS will sell the new international HQ & move on.
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  snare&racket

  We treasure what is limited, be it gold or diamonds or......land. A little company in america owns land all over the world, they must only be second to the Vatican in land and buildings owned.
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  OnTheWayOut

  dozy: "...a book publishing & distribution company ( using free labour ) and property development & resale (again using free labour ) with a sideline as a religion."

  That's exactly what's going on. Profit for publishing is virtually gone, so they are going full bore into controlling the real estate. Their new money grab shows they want congregations to have no choices but to play ball with them- no more congregations saying "We can remodel/build new without a loan."