The church has ENORMOUS agricultural and meat producing entities throughout the U.S. Everything I'm reading about climate change and population growth is that commodity prices will be skyrocketing over the next 10 years. It's a little known fact that foreign countries like China and Japan have been buying up farmland throughout the U.S. because those countries simply can't feed themselves. As other countries' populations grow they may realize, a little too late, that they can't feed their own people either. They'll have to import as well.

And there will be LDS inc. making a killing. It will be interesting to see what they do.

I agree that they will become very very wealthy.

The LDS church is extremely effective at vacuuming up tithing money and giving very little back to the members. Even those very high up in the church get paid a pittance in comparison the the church's income - they mostly make their money off of book deals and such.

LDS corp is very cheap/frugal. Being cheap is the best way to accumulate wealth.

They will make some bad investments along the way - for example City Creek Mall will probably be a big money loser, but they have plenty of seed money to invest in a very wide portfolio.

Every time they buy property they make a real estate investment that will almost certainly appreciate given enough time.

From a textbook on the French Revolution that I am reading:

"As a corporative body, the Church of the "ancien regime" had enjoyed immense wealth privileges and authority: the value of its properties, yielding an annual income of between 50 and 100 million livres, represented something between two-fifths and one-half of the landed wealth in every province of the realm; and it was exempt from all taxation other than what was voluntarily offered to the Treasury in the form of a "don gratuit". A large part of these properties was held, not by the secular clergy, but by monasteries and chapters which, as impropriators of tithe and other revenues, often paid a yearly stipend, known as the "portion congrue", to the practising priest and chaplain, and whose own services to religion were being increasingly called into question by clergy and laymen alike." -THE FRENCH REVOLUTION by George Rude


parts of this sound so familiar, doesn't it?

sorry, page reference: p. 66.

I have reason to disagree.

take a look at the facts, estimated total wealth is 30-40b,

for some 30 years they were banking 5b or so every year. they should have 80-90b with good money management. I dare say that many of the 'for profit' businesses are propped up by tithing much more than expected if my numbers are right.

I don't think the manage the money very well, sure there are some businesses and all, but bids go to friends, pockets are padded, etc. etc, they can afford to waste like that because the tithing pipe is so huge. they need to change direction more rapidly than the tithing dries up. I'm not sure the gerentocracy can move as fast as I think this movement is going.

If they keep it all together it won't be a walk in the park, I do have a little bit on an in as I know one of the 70, he is a business man and has been put in a place that he could affect this. When I worked with him he wasn't afraid to cut if needed, and lo the church is cutting now. Personally I think he had a direct hand in that. IMO he is a believer that hasn't looked at the history in detail and is doing what he thinks is right for gods kingdom on earth.

If younger guys like him get more reign they could survive it. but I by no means think is a done deal.

I've seen estimates for wealth of 100 billion plus. The 30 billion one was very conservative.

While LDS inc is indeed wealthy I think you need a little help in what defines Wealthy Organizations. I just went to check Walmart's Balance Sheet and they had revenue of over 500,000,000,000. LDS inc may act like a corporation but they are an ant hill on a mountain range when you look at really large corporations. To make matters even more convoluted the US government has revenue that dwarfs Walmart.

I don't think the Mormon church has particularly good money management, if City Creek Center is any indication. Sure, it's expensive and it looks nice, but building wealth is about getting back more than what you put in. It doesn't matter how much money you start out with, if you're doing stupid things with it.

They are notoriously out of date and slow to accept change. LDS inc, the next Kodak.

They are a tiny church that takes an above average share of income from its members. They have a lot of money considering their size but they will never be one of the wealthiest organizations on earth. To reach that level they would have to grow a lot bigger. They are barely treading water right now. They are losing long time members because they lie about their history and they persist in policies of denying women equal rights and hating gays even as those positions become less and less acceptable in society at large. Their meetings are boring as hell. They could get a lot of growth in the third world but they insist on having a boring Utah style worship service worldwide. The Africans will just go to the evangelical churches where they can have fun and play music and dance. They spend way to much money overbuilding chapels and temples for the members that they have. Maybe their investments in farmland will really pay off but they will probably lose a lot of money on City Creek and I bet that isn't the only bad investment they have made. In any case they probably do have at least enough money saved up to keep the organization running forever.