If their charity status and associated tax advantages were removed they'd really have a problem......
LEAKED: WHQ Accounts: 2016-2020 Budget
by Fay Dehr 138 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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westiebilly11
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cofty
My summary. Please tell me if I have facts wrong.
- The organisation used to make a significant percentage of its income from the profits of publishing - small margins & huge volumes, volunteer labour
- Legal problems (Jimmy Swaggart) put an end to the pretence of it not being a commercial venture.
- The GB introduced a 'simplified' model where mags were to be given away for free but expected JWs to contribute the normal costs as a voluntary donation when they collected their supplies at the K.Hall. This was to be in addition to regular contributions and to donations received for the literature from the public.
- The vast majority of JWs declined to take advantage of this new 'opportunity'. They took their magazine order for free and discovered that the public almost never offered a donation.
- It eventually became clear that printing literature resulted in financial loss rather than profits so over recent years it has been severely curtailed to the point where the WT and Awake have all but been discontinued.
- Because of bad management and probably a large amount of 'Jehovah will provide' rhetoric, they carried on living beyond their means and selling off real estate to make up the shortfall in revenue.
- This leaked video proves that all branches have been instructed to make a 10% cut in their budget year on year and to adopt a new accounting system that will allow HQ to closely monitor their spending.
- Within a few years the real estate dividend will be used up. There is no prospect of any permanent increase in contributions and no new business model so the only solution is a permanent reduction in the size of global operations.
In short, the organisation has peaked.
However fast or slow it proves to be (SBF v Morph) the future is one of decline.
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Fay Dehr
Wow Cofty! Impressive, and succinct recap - you sure know your Watchtower history. If Watchtower was a horse, the vet would be urging the course of kindness via a painless injection.
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_Morpheus
How can i say, in clear enough terms, that i am totally in agreement with cofty’s analysis/summation? Ive said exactly the same many many times.
Thats not collapse.
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Crazyguy
No matter how you slice it , the cut backs on their publications prove their having money problems. Have they been able to stem the bleeding none of us will ever know. My thinking is the billions of dollars in real estate they made from selling off properties may have already been spent or owed to some banks. We also have evidence that they may have lost a lot of money during the depression of 08-11.
Anyway you slice it their struggling and that’s a good sign!
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lastmanstanding
Morpho
You seemed to think leaks were new
You don’t know Jack . You don’t know who I am, or what I’ve been involved with in the past, or what I am presently involved in. I didn’t say anything about a “leak being new”.
You don’t listen to anyone but yourself, you breath your own exhaust.
You are still not a nice person.
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lastmanstanding
Cofty
- Because of bad management and probably a large amount of 'Jehovah will provide' rhetoric, they carried on living beyond their means and selling off real estate to make up the shortfall in revenue.
Living beyond one’s means involves credit. If you are not issued credit, then you cannot live beyond your means.
If you have $5.00 to go to the candy store with, then you get exactly $5 worth of candy, not beyond. Only when the store owner says “take more and pay later” can you go the candy store and walk in out with $10 worth of candy.
The WTS has been eating more candy than they took in. You cannot pay bills with real estate.
”hello electric company, here’s a bucket of dirt from our properties to go towards our bill this month...”
You CAN leverage your properties for credit, but alas, we are at credit again. Any way you slice it, you cannot live beyond your means without borrowing. Period.
The WTS is under water, they owe, and I suspect the amount is grand. I suspect they gorged on cheap credit for years, and the banks were happy to loan it as that is there job. To loan.
And why not, the WTS had a steady source of income and vast real estate holdings to use as collateral. The perfect debtor.
But the perfection is wearing thin. As a bank, you don’t want to hear that a major debtor is being sued repeatedly for child molestation. Also, as a bank, you don’t want to hear that revenues are drying up.
FORCLOSURE
I am now searching to find evidence of bank forclose of WTS. This would explain where the $1,000,000,000 went, and why they are selling properties like mad.
To say that they are selling at the rate they are selling is to cover a historical extravaganza doesn’t balance the sheet.... without credit.
The WTS is a ponzi scheme, and Ponzi schemes do not die a slow death. Once they peak, they fall off a cliff.
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_Morpheus
I am now searching to find evidence of bank forclose of WTS.
😂😂😂 you do that. Please report back when you dont find anything.
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cofty
Living beyond one’s means involves credit. If you are not issued credit, then you cannot live beyond your means
Using cash reserves and liquidating assets to pay regular costs is living beyond means. It's a reasonable stop-gap to a short-term problem. The cult's problems are long-term.
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Fay Dehr
Hey Morpheus - I'm beginning to "get" your humour :-)
evidence of bank forclose of WTS
Watchtower are experts at moving money around; they have "charity" status here in the UK because they "donate to overseas charities". This is brilliant for at least 2 reasons:
1) They move $millions around (like a ball under 3 cups street illusionist) in "plain sight"2) They get a tax REBATE back from the UK Governement (20%) for doing it!
You have to admire their brilliance...so, no, no one is going to find the "ball under the cup" from such skilled and well-practised illusionists. You're spot on.