Hello All,
Ros asked me if she could publicize the information and my part in it which started on H20.regarding this thread. I told her go for it! I also told her I would add to it my comments. Here goes.
I have read all your well thought out comments and I thank you. I wish to say that my post arises from intuition, gut feelings, hunches. Intuition must be validated to carry weight. After reading all your posts, has my intuition been invalidated.? Hell no! You have only increased my conviction that something is going bump in the night. There are rumblings in the cellar, and I am groping around with a flashlight, searching it out and you all have been cooperating whether you realize it or not.
Your posts mostly deal with one aspect of this question. That of knowledgeable, businesses men, banker type, investment councilors and observers of JW elderly ones and their retirement assets.etc.
From where does intuition arise? From snips and bits of information from this board and others, from the past fifty years or so and beyond. The beyond extends all the way back to the scriptures of centuries ago.
Briefly the main questions to address are:
IS THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY IN A CASH FLOW BIND?
IF SO, WHAT INDICATIONS EXIST TO SHOW THIS?
Many of you have stated that what the society is doing with retirement money is sound business practice, but I feel you are looking at it as knowledgeable business people, relying on common business sense. You are not considering a sound business organization here, but a religious one, don't necessarily expect sound business. I only have a smattering of the stock market, accounting corporate business etc. I have only been in small, small business, so damn small that for the past thirty years I have worked on the red side of the ledger. I see too, that my Canadian registered retirement savings, even though they are in the low low risk category, and managed by a reputable firm, they are losing money.
I gave the example of Nortel , only because it is on the six o'clock news in Canada. They are in a down trend? What do they do on a down hill slide? Lay of 10, 000 or more workers to improve their situation. They have top financiers running the show.
Now tell me, Is the WT Society in the same situation? If they are in a cash flow bind, can they lay off thousands of workers? No, because they are slaves, they don't get paid. Also the WT must save face. Can you imagine one of their corporations claiming bankruptcy?
What are some other indicators of a cash flow bind?
The curtailing of expenditures in India, telling them to carry their own weight. Have they told other branches to do the same? We only got reports from India.
The volonteer payment of literature, is it working? There are no royalties coming in from the mountain of literature published each year. There have been reports of literature shortage this summer. My wife looked at the Isaiah book this morning and said huh, no more hard covers, how much money are they saving on that. What is the price of raw material in publishing now a days.?
How much money did it cost to build Patterson, and the facility in Hawaii , are they dipping into other peoples funds to pay for them?.
You have stated in your posts that borrowing money from their members a low interest and investing it in sound legitimate higher interest and pocketing the difference is a reasonable way to make money. You say that new loans coming in will pay for interest and expenses carrying the money. This argument smells a little like a pyramid scheme to me. I recently refinanced my mortgages . The first thing the banker asked was how many credit cards I had, five, I had to give up a few of them . Does the Society think it has an unlimited source of funds from the brothers? I believe that river is drying up for a number of reasons. One reason is their policy on higher education. Their discouragement of entrepreneurial endeavours, materialistic endeavors. Moses had to tell the Israelites to stop bring valuables to the temple, do you see any articles to day telling brothers to stop writing and sending in cheques? It is like the last hour of an eight day assembly, and the announcements are long, they are tired and just want to go home.
On this board and others all the errors of the WT have been exposed, namely, false predictions, false science, false health. You mean to tell me that they are not capable of making foolish financial decisions also?
Now one last point on this lengthy post. I remember reading somewhere that the Society at times have called in all their members who are medical doctors to discuss and advise on medical questions. Does anyone know whether they also have a committee of knowledgeable business advisors to call in for advice, and if so, has the GB listened to their advice or are they following the advice from their Ouija boards? Who is going to be the fall guy, Brother Adams? Oliver North? Joe Black?
belbab, apologizing for the long post, more to come later.
