by Hairtrigger 19 Replies latest watchtower scandals
New HQ's are being built in Warwick, NY. not Walkill.
Most losses in the stock market have been recouped.
Comparatively cheap R.E. with land ( lots of land) more bang for the buck. Escape from NY city. On 9/11 it was virtually impossible to get out of Manhattan. Bethel was scared straight out of there. Not bizarre reasoning for sell-off at all.
RVW thanks for the correction. I understand yu speak of losses involving speculation by WBTS?
Q. Why have they sold property 13 years after the event? And why now when real estate prices are still trying to reach pre- 2007 levels? Why not between 2002-2006?
HairTrigger, I'm not an expert on WT, but, they were selling off Brooklyn properties years before 2013. I'm sure there are threads here on the subject. P lanning to purchase property took years, too.
I'm sure WT has a diversified portfolio. I know the NYSE has grown in leaps and bounds for the last couple of years. If the WT didn't sell off when stocks were falling,.they have recouped their losses by now and then some. I also believe they are big money players with hedge funds.
They are fearmongers. They themselves are fearful and also create a certain amount of fear in others. Having a self contained compound is a wonderful thing for any cult. Keeps a tighter rein on believers. Keeps out outside influences. I agree with Lisa Rose.
Why are they cashing in their chips? Because they can.
rip van winkle - "They are fearmongers. They themselves are fearful and also create a certain amount of fear in others. Having a self contained compound is a wonderful thing for any cult. Keeps a tighter rein on believers. Keeps out outside influences."
All 100% accurate.
Still doesn't make the things they're doing part of some grand overarching master scheme, though.
They're all (arguably) reactions (i.e. attempts at adaptation) that are taken in response to stimulus from their current environment, just like any other (social) organism.
It's easy to mistake it for conscious and deliberate long-term planning, though; the arguments for "Intelligent Design" seem initially compelling for similar reasons.
rip van winkle - "Why are they cashing in their chips? Because they can."
And because they still have 'em (for now).
Frankly, I would too, If I were in their shoes.
There seems to be more of the business end of the WTS. happening now, as far as real estate purchasing/selling and financial
gathering from the flock.
Hell they even have ATM machines in Assembly Halls now.
If its widely known that real estate is a good investment, why not proceed in that direction.
The Big shots in Brooklyn obviously found out how good an investment real estate is recently.
. Why have they sold property 13 years after the event? And why now when real estate prices are still trying to reach pre- 2007 levels? Why not between 2002-2006?
Well, they didn't have a crystal ball to know that property would not keep growing at the same rate. Many investors did not see that the bubble would burst, maybe they realized they needed to cash out and invest in other things.
In lot of ways the JWS eventually turned into a religion similar to Christendom by the money and donating of
land by devout adherents.
An organized religion that C T Russell the original orchestrator of the WTS. would not have never foreseen
or probably would have wanted.
Real Estates experts and bankers had already bugun predicting the housing collapse from early 2006. By mid 2006 loud whispers of the Impending recession had started to filter out of Wall Street. The real estate crash began to be felt acutely around the beginning of 2008.
I was posting on housing bubble around 2006. It was already well documented phenomenon as it was bursting before the outbreak of the Great Recession. Some states like FL were hit earlier, other not until 2008. The Great Recession started in IV. quarter in 2007, and it took 8 months to work into stock market and bank collapses in summer/fall 2008. I am sure Brooklyn knew that real estate market was crashing. They know selling real estate because market is rebounding. Prague Branch office was closed in 2008 and economy tanked in 2009. The buildings and properties are still in WT possession six years after the closure. They still did not sell them; however, I heard that they will be on sale again. Properties had recovered into pre-recession level and they may liquidate it. WT can fetch from the sale of the Prague branch easily $500K, and this is not only property they have there. Additonally, Czech government is returning all properties sized by communist regime after 1948 back to religious orders. Among handfull churches like Catholic, JW were the only among 7 religious organization that asked for property return into WT hands... 7-Days adventists refused to deal with long time gone properties.
