I had this silly theory before.
Watchtower has always been sort of jealous of the Mormons because they are seen as more mainstream, what with celebrating Christmas and even showcasing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, encouraging college and personal advancement 'in the world', yet also accepting a set tithing.
My silly theory was that, unable to duplicate what LDS have, Watchtower switched to attempting to duplicate what Scientology has- a bunch of money with their tax-free status and no real need to spend that money on the members, therefore no real need for large membership.
Well, Watchtower took all the money and finds that ongoing contributions are not as high as hoped for. You know- take all my money and ask for more, I don't think so. Add the facts that they took congregation savings along with their asking higher rates at assemblies yet they are producing less printed materials, and the people who didn't go to college and didn't accept so much overtime are taking advantage of the anonymous aspect of their donation arrangement and giving no more (perhaps less) than in the past.
So, even if Watchtower is not yet at their dire circumstances as regards money, they are not wasting time. Despite their huge campaign of introducing new-style commercial Kingdom Halls, they are not building too many new halls. Despite the workers being paid slave wages, they really don't see a need to keep them. Recruitment will be down, but as long as they have all the money already, who needs people?
