why the watchtower is so short of money

by pepperheart 89 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  slimboyfat

  It's hard to imagine the Watchtower not being flush with cash after all the sell-offs that have occurred in recent history.

  Why? They reportedly sold the Brooklyn properties for something in between 1 and 2 billion dollars. Some of that would have been used to relocate to Warwick.

  They receive something in the region of 2 billion dollars in donations per year. (According to calculation based on an internal comment about the response to Stephen Lett’s 2015 appeal for money)

  So the WT sale of Brooklyn amounted to less than one year’s revenue. Plus we know that “more money is going out than coming in at the present time”.(Stephen Lett in 2015) So it amounted to less than one year’s spending too.

  If the sale of Brooklyn had solved Watchtower’s money problems would they be cancelling the yearbooks, sacking bethel and other workers, and now selling thousands KHs across the world?

  It takes Watchtower levels of motivated reasoning to avoid the obvious conclusion that they are desperately short of money and in real trouble.
• 

  slimboyfat

  Why is Watchtower short of money?

  Imagine one of the largest publishing houses in the world built branches in every country on earth to support their publishing. They sold hundreds of millions of books and magazines every year, making billions of dollars in profit.

  Then one day they couldn’t charge for their products any more but they continued paying the costs of production, infrastructure and personnel. No wonder they are in trouble. They have been living off their savings since around 1990 and the cutbacks have become increasingly dramatic. But no equivalent replacement for their income from publishing has been found.

  How long can a bakery survive without charging for cakes, or a shoe shop without charging for shoes?

  Quite frankly, it’s a wonder that Watchtower has managed to survive as long as it has!
• 

  WTWizard

  They are not as short on money as they deserve--simply, they don't deserve any.
  
• 

  _Morpheus

  How long can a bakery survive without charging for cakes, or a shoe shop without charging for shoes?
  Quite frankly, it’s a wonder that Watchtower has managed to survive as long as it has!

  Round and round we go.... as noted many times before, The wt was never a publishing house in the traditional sense. They simply use the publications as a means to separate the flock from their money. They have always been a religion with their members as their source of income. As long as they have members they have “shoes to sell”, to use your flawed analogy.

  Also, you admit to being supprised they have lasted this long.... at what point do you realize your assumptions are clearly flawed?
• 

  slimboyfat

  They are not purely a publishing company because they are also a relgion, to that extent you are correct. However, they relied on publishing and the revenue it provided more than any other religion I can think of. They even called their members “publishers”! Pioneers were premier literature distrIbutors who obtained literature at discounted rates. The whole purpose and drive of the organisation was to print and distribute more and more literature in more and more branches.

  The message was incredibly important too, you are correct about that. And it’s certainly a testimony to the loyalty of their members that the organisation has been able to continue to function for the best part of quarter of a century after their primary source of revenue came to a juddering halt. But the lack of revenue from publishing has clearly taken its toll. First came the paperbacks to replace hardbacks, then the calendars stopped, and the bound volumes, and so on and so on, until the yearbooks were dropped and the magazines decimated.

  For over a century Watchtower boasted that they never take collections and their members are not tithed - they didn’t need to, they had the luxury of their publishing empire as their source of income. Now that has dried up they are relying purely on donations, and despite all the cutbacks and sale of assets, it’s still not enough to dig them out of the financial hole they are in.
• 

  Finkelstein

  There is no question that the WTS leaders are bullshit speculators who put out information just to crank up the income.

  ie ...there will be an enormous amount of New Kingdom Halls needed to be built in the US.

  ie. there has been more money going out that what has been coming in.

  This statement came out after many of the WTS's branches were sold around the world. We'll leave that one as a half truth.

  How much money was left over after the WTS sold 2 billion dollars worth of its property holdings in Brooklyn ?
  
• 

  LV101

  I know in the late 80s the clergy class watched the literature counter like hawks - they knew who paid for what! I heard comments from publishers who were contributing minimally (probably close to nothing!) ordering tapes/videos/DVD's (whatever they were called) and were told by elders (the literature nazi elder in charge) the value of one tape would be around $20-$25 and they couldn't be ordering without paying for them when it cost the cult pennies to make - like the W/T and Awake. I was shocked when quite a few of us were contributing enough for the congregation.

  It was speculated they were the largest publishing co. on the earth other than the government -- who knows the facts (and like everything WT cult related we have no evidence!) with the WT crook cult but it had to be lucrative - the proven brain-washing tool so one way or the other it dragged in drone adherents.
• 

  redvip2000

  I don't think they are running our of money, but it's true that there is a trend for less money to come in to their coffers from donations

  There is a shift in demographics among the members. More and more people from developed countries like the US and Europe and either leaving, or becoming less interested in joining, while any growth is coming from poorer populations. Even in the US, any growth is mostly coming from immigrant populations.

  But I think the org is so stingy that I doubt they are hurting. They will continue to supplement their income with schemes such as Kingdumb Hall buys and sells, and remodels, etc.

  Decline is not going to come that way. The way down is through more information and a more educated population.
• 

  Lostandfound

  Combining Congregations will surely lad to a loss of revnue for the WT, maybe a one off gain from KH sales, but now only one unit to pay “rent” and other charges WT makes each month to congregations, the contribution box revenue at the combined Hall will probably never match the total of the combined congregations revenue , and with disenchantd ones not being so regular at the new Hall with driving conditione sometimes making it more difficult to get to the new location, possibly further away, and old timers upset at losing ‘heir KH’ , which they built and paid for, not being so quick to contribute at new Hall, which they have no aff ity with. For WT Three Congregations equals three continuing revenue streams, one larger unit still only equals ONE revenue stream. So a poss in the long term.
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  LV101

  They were dripping in dollars for decades collecting properties as land barons -- now cashing in YUGELY. With internet exposure, education, their history along with science equals decline in recruits/membership. There are more have-nots in the world -- their pennies add up and it's just a MO to level the equation, perhaps. If they're building commercial fast food halls they're still in real estate business and carrying on, unfortunately!