by Odrade 7 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Speaking of Kingdom Halls...
So the Society asks for donations to build Kingdom Halls. It then takes the donated money and loans it back to the very people who just donated it and charges them interest! THEN the WTS keeps the deed to the property, even after the loan is paid off by the congregation.
What is wrong with this picture? (Okay, so maybe it's not quite a Ponzi scheme, but it still smells rotten.)
Odrade
http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/ponzi/
PONZI SCHEME
How it all started.
Carlo ?Charles? Ponzi was born in Parma, Italy 1882 and then emigrated to the United States in November of 1903. Over the next fourteen years, Ponzi wandered from city to city and from job to job. He worked as a dishwasher, waiter, store clerk, and even as an Italian interpreter. In 1917, he settled back into Boston where he took a job typing and answering foreign mail. It was here in Boston on that fateful day in August of 1919 that Ponzi discovered the mechanism to make both him and his investors very wealthy.
At the time, Ponzi was considering issuing an export magazine. He had written a letter about the proposed publication to a gentleman in Spain, and when Ponzi received his reply, the man had included an international postal reply coupon. The idea behind this enclosure was quite simple. Ponzi was to take the coupon to his local post office and exchange it for American postage stamps. He would then use those American stamps to send the magazine to Spain.
Ponzi noticed that the postal coupon had been purchased in Spain for about one cent in American
Ponzi?s mind quickly went into overdrive and devised a clever scheme to capitalize on his idea. He was determined to be a rich man. His first step was to convert his American money into Italian lire (or any other currency where the exchange rate was favorable). Ponzi?s foreign agents would then use these funds to purchase international postal coupons in countries with weak economies. The stamp coupons were then exchanged back into a favorable foreign currency and finally back into American funds. He claimed that his net profit on all these transactions was in excess of 400%.
Was he really able to do this? The answer is a definite no. The red tape of dealing with the various postal organizations, coupled with the long delays in transferring currency, ate away at all Ponzi?s imagined profits.
Things got just a bit out of hand? (continued)
It still burns my butt to this day,that dad and mom gave to that borg..My sibligs and I suffered enormously has children, because dad and mom always felt quilted into having to give them money because of their "lack of funds this month"...We would always go without because the hall needed the money.....My dad worked very hard as well....they always maneged to put 20% of their income in ....Now that I am an adult, I wonder what the hell they did with their money,to always be in the negitive?IMO...they are all con's....
mortons68
My in-laws also contribute a huge amount of money each year when compared with meager income. My parents have a nice income, and have also given a great deal of money, but I think the poorer witnesses are, the greater % of money the faithful tend to give. Sad.
And it's not exactly a ponzi scheme, but it's pretty sneaky the way they get paid thrice. First with the original donation, then with the interest, lastly by ownership of the paid for property.
Bleh
Whereas my family gave almost nothing and we had nothing.
As an adult, I still gave nothing. It wasn't until I was married to the accounts servant that I was more aware of how close to the edge many congregations were regarding paying the utilities, rent, the basics. We ante'd up more than then not wanting the heat to be turned off. Our experience was that a small minority actually contributed. Some contributed for base purposes...to have influence on decisions regarding the KH and to get favored treatment (not implying anyone here did).
Blondie
Good Post.---Our family was like Blondies. We just didn't have a whole lot to give. Mainly because we were giving our all in other ways. At one time, everyone in our family were Pioneers,--and we were doing good just to feed ourselves. To think that the Watchtower is in the (951Million) now a days really burns me to. And that is just the money that is (reported) --or that we know about---what about other millions that we don't know about?---Voyager
Actually the big Borg no longer collects interest on KH loans. They stopped this practice several years ago, just aout the time they stopped invoicing congregations for a share of the costs of the CO cars. Once I had quite a heated discussion with a certain GB member aka The Boss over some of these practices. As far as I know the WTS does not hold deeds to KHalls and I'm not aware of any recent changes to this policy. The ownership is held by the local Cong. either by a corporation or a trust depending on the local laws.
If a hall's congregation quits the Watchtower Society the building, per legal agreement, becomes the Watchtower Society. It did not used to be that way but became so after the Bonham, Texas congregation quit the Watchtower Society.
