Hi there JeffT,
Does the WTBS report assets based on cost or market value?
The IRS document: 'Instructions for form 990T' only refer to assets as treated as if sold at fair market value.
it has been extensively reported on the forum that there has been a marked increase in effort over the past two years by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses to encourage an increase in monetary donations.
this has also been accompanied by the stripping of financial capital from the local congregations.
as has also been reported on this forum, this has in all probability been done to facilitate the financing of the vast new hq building project as well as the financing of the shift from a publishing company to becoming an internet based charismatic multimedia company which produces lame pixar/disney animation knock offs while simultaneously parading the governing body's ever expanding waistlines, blingy accoutrements and stupid grins.. meanwhile the financials of the organization remains as murky as ever.
Hi there JeffT,
Does the WTBS report assets based on cost or market value?
The IRS document: 'Instructions for form 990T' only refer to assets as treated as if sold at fair market value.
it has been extensively reported on the forum that there has been a marked increase in effort over the past two years by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses to encourage an increase in monetary donations.
this has also been accompanied by the stripping of financial capital from the local congregations.
as has also been reported on this forum, this has in all probability been done to facilitate the financing of the vast new hq building project as well as the financing of the shift from a publishing company to becoming an internet based charismatic multimedia company which produces lame pixar/disney animation knock offs while simultaneously parading the governing body's ever expanding waistlines, blingy accoutrements and stupid grins.. meanwhile the financials of the organization remains as murky as ever.
Hi there all,
It has been extensively reported on the forum that there has been a marked increase in effort over the past two years by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses to encourage an increase in monetary donations. This has also been accompanied by the stripping of financial capital from the local congregations. As has also been reported on this forum, this has in all probability been done to facilitate the financing of the vast new HQ building project as well as the financing of the shift from a publishing company to becoming an internet based charismatic multimedia company which produces lame Pixar/Disney animation knock offs while simultaneously parading the governing body's ever expanding waistlines, blingy accoutrements and stupid grins.
Meanwhile the financials of the organization remains as murky as ever. To facilitate a modest insight into the inner financial machinations of our former spiritual Amway, I have constructed an asset graph for the Pennsylvania corporation. This is based upon the financial statements that have been released in the past and also the currently available 990T forms. So here goes:
Notes:
1. Between 1995 and 2016 only 8 years worth of information is currently available (as far as I am aware). The 1995 to 1999 information comes from the financial statements that were supplied for financial reporting of the Pennsylvania corporation while it was registered in the United Kingdom. The 2011 to 2014 information is sourced from the total stated asset value on the 990T forms. Any non-profit has to disclose the total asset value of the organization on a 990T. (For verification one could for example look at the asset value of the US cancer associations stated asset value as reported on their 990T's and then compare that with what is reported on a website like charity navigator. There is a ballpark alignment in the figures.)
2, Between 1999 and 2010 no information is available for the Pennsylvania corporation, so therefore linear growth was assumed for simplicity sake. I guess one could make the inferences a bit more stochastic to feign realism but blah...
3. The graph is on total asset value, NOT net asset value and therefore does not include liabilities.
4. Notice the decline in asset value in 2014. There is a 12% decline ($134 062 000) in total asset value between 2013 and 2014. This would explain the governing body's enthusiasm for donations.
5. Of the 8 years worth of data only 2014 shows a decrease from the previous year in total asset value.
6. My projection for 2015 is based upon the idea that in 2015 it has been reported that the request for the increase in donations has in fact been successful (if the governing body is to be believed) , but it also factors in the previous years decline and the fact that the governing body hammers on donations (including taking away ice cream money) which means there is something negative afoot. But then again your guess is as good as mine.
7. My projection for 2016 is based upon the idea that the recovery will continue and result in an reasonable increase. I factor in things like prevailing wind direction, the average length of a Prince album, the number of words in a Watchtower magazine etc. Again your guess is as good as mine.
So there you have it...
for a future project i'm searching for remarkable quotes of current and former gb members.. i've two personal, validated quotes:.
"sprechen sie deutsch?
" "ah, ein bisschen!
it's up to some 800 zillion dollars now and hasn't suckered me in yet.
i've been out of watchtower for some 38 years now and i suppose the lottery is one of their nonoze.
i have nothing morally wrong against it or anyone who enjoys doing it.
ok so most of you guys know already that i am going through the reinstatement process for my parents but i do have a partially sinister plan which i will not mention here since someone told me that there are b-lites that read boards like this.
last night and it was the funniest experience i have ever seen.
besides that the brother doing the sound and video screwed up the whole thing when showing the videos and it took 3 brothers to fix it after 10 minutes, the whole thing was a joke.
It is as if Jurassic Park and an airport calypso band made a song together! It was embarrassing but so funny I almost peed myself laughing so hard.
as i mentioned in another post i used to serve as an elder for 2 decades.
i was involved in a number of jc.
some i dealt with are good friends now.
If you - Cognac-have already vomited I hope it feel better.
I think we all need a good vomit now and again. It cleans out the system.
I have a sympathetic gag reflex so I'll be right there with you.
...
Regarding honesty: Human beings with a reasonable job are honest between 80 and 90% of the time. 99.98% of the time they will not consider stealing money.
From: What the Bagel man saw
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/magazine/what-the-bagel-man-saw.html?_r=0
in the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
in the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
Hello again you bunch of atheist polemicists,
Human beings are unique in their extensive use of symbolism (This thing represents that thing). Humans are not unique in this regard, however the extent to which it is used by humans is unprecedented in earth's history. Human beings are also self aware and are mostly concerned with their own experience (solipsism). The following section describes a number of symbolic definitions using some half baked symbolic language:
Mathematics and logic are languages that use symbolism in an absolutely consistent manner (well mostly).
Science as an overarching symbolic concept looks at things and observed processes and then tries to ascribe the mathematical and logical symbolism that most closely resembles the observed processes and things. This gives it predictive power.
Technology uses this predictive power and uses it on the physical things and processes humans observe to make new things so that it can make human lives more pleasant. So enters personal experience. Technology aims to improve human solipsism.
Religion on the other hand uses symbolism to construct a logic which is not absolutely consistent and tries to fit observed processes and things to its logic. This is/has been done to solve seemingly intractable solipsistic problems which makes life less pleasant. These include the end of the solipsistic experience and also the observed degrading of the personal experience over the course of time. Although not consistent, religion seems to have improved human solipsism to some extent by not having humans worry too much about these intractable problems.
---
So what I'd personally like to see: That science and religion fuck to sire technology that will solve seemingly intractable problems to make my own solipsistic experience more pleasant.
To quote a lyric by Johnny Cash: "They say they want the Kingdom, but they don't want God in it."
was it 1931 when they adopted jehovah's witnesses?
(at the time with lower case w) isn't it about time now they changed name again?
i mean everything else is changing why not the name!
when i was a teenager, i was told by an elder that because i smiled a lot and was known for my good sense of humor, that i should come across as "more serious".
so before i was appointed a ms, while in my late teens, i transformed myself into a much more "serious" brother.. were you ever told that you needed to work on something that you knew was stoopid?.