sir82: Only about 1 million of the 8 million JWs are American.
I suspect that people in Nigeria, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bangladesh, etc. spend far less than $900 on Christmas presents. Many may not make that much money in a year.
You are right. But I confess to being lazy and just used Murican $'s.
And of course people in many places don't make that much per year but we don't know the demographics of the JW population in those far away places.
Regardless, banning traditional celebrations does liberate $$ that may be used for JW donations and activities instead. When I was a kid, the annual assemblies took all of our family's disposable income (and more). I have often thought that the conventions wouldn't have had so much succe$$ if we just celebrated Xmas and birthdays instead. I would have much rather have had birthday and xmas memories instead of assembly memories
StarTrekAngel: This don't seem like a number the WTBTS would be willing to consider in light of the controversy that could surround the doctrine, until you consider the entire US JW population. At 13,714 congregations, this would amount to $329,136,000 per year.
Exactly. Now do the calculation globally.
A birthday gift for each and every JW on the planet. How much money would that require? Annually? How much would a birthday cake for each JW cost? Annually? Probably more than Sophie's ice cream cone.