slimboyfat - A few facts that are not speculation:
1. Watchtower used to make millions of dollars a week selling books and magazines. That has completely dried up. Which is why making donations for the "worldwide work" of the organization instead of for books and magazines was a smart move. I can't speak for every JW worldwide, but we all know that most of the money donated came out of the individual member's pockets because few got many donations out door to door. So, do you think that these JWs that have been donating for this literature for years are suddenly going to stop giving just because they aren't taking books anymore? After all, the money wasn't for literature necessarily, it was for the overall "work". I seriously doubt many JWs have slowed their donations by much and certainly not to the level of being "completely dried up".
2. In 2015 the governing body made an appeal for more donations because they had a running deficit. See "pontoon's" comment above about the reality of such "deficits".
3. In 2015 they abandoned building projects and began laying off more than a quarter of their staff. I'll say that the abandoning of projects is strange on a level and maybe it does signify something. I don't know. Then again, they did a fantastic job of building hype for new KH designs and asking for money and then they haven't built. So it sounds like they got a bunch of money, once again, for a false promise. Laying off of staff is just further savings. That gives them more money. They have no need to support human beings that they don't need to support. Those people were expendable. It sounds more and more like a lean business model that is being hyped more and more in the business world.
4. They have cut printing of books and magazines back to bare bones. Maybe will eliminate entirely. See my response to point one. If they're still getting donations from the members, which is where they were coming from, then with a reduction of printing they're still making money on one end and saving it on the other.
5. Abuse claims are stacking up in many countries and membership figures are starting to decline. Can you provide numbers about membership declining? I haven't seen the latest, but every number I've seen year over year has increased (including memorial partakers, lol). Yes, abuse claims are stacking up. I agree with that. Where are all of the lawsuit payouts? A couple mil here and there aren't crippling in the least, or shouldn't be.
In my view they seem to be going to a more and more traditional mainstream religious feel. Ask for money constantly. Promise potential growth to the church and raise funds and then put off the renovations or additions for whatever reason while raking in money. Put up video boards and get into a more media driven message. I think they're learning from the successes of others. It's as simple as copying "best practices", another business term.
I think the Governing Body has shit for brains. I think they are idiots. However, they are also too stupid to have done this whole rebranding work that has been done. That speaks to someone behind the scenes to me, someone much more intelligent, someone that is pulling the strings and coming up with this flip flopping of how they present themselves, someone that pushed them out from behind the scenes, someone that came up with new marketing through the website and logo, someone that is savvy and that is really running things on some level. I don't know for sure, but think about it, do you see Morris or Lett or any of these guys as capable of running such an organization? Those guys can barely tie their shoes. Those guys were flopping on the JW Broadcasting so suddenly out comes the "helpers". If it was truly all just the GB running things, they would never have removed themselves more from the JW Broadcasts and shared the spotlight. I think someone behind the scenes saw the disaster that was those morons on screen and stepped in. There has to be more to the story that we don't see. There is so much hidden through various corporations and such, things that these guys couldn't possibly come up with.
