News and Announcements

Gruber-Rosman Action
Health Care Campaign
Arlington Listening Campaign
Move Our Money Campaign (2010)

Speaking at Temple Isaiah on Health Care Reform: Jon Gruber and Brian Rosman

Monday, March 5, 7:30 p.m.

The Temple Isaiah Social Action Committee is pleased to announce that we will have Jon Gruber and Brian Rosman, two nationally well-known and dynamic speakers, at Temple Isaiah on Monday evening, March 5 at 7:30 p.m.

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule on aspects of the national Affordable Care Act and Massachusetts’ governor and state legislature currently working health care deliver and payment reform, health care reform is a critical issue for all of us.

This event will be especially informative for all our community members who are working in the healthcare field as we learn about how national and Massachusetts Healthcare reform will affect medical providers.

Jon Gruber (pictured at left), who is a Temple member, will be speaking about health care reform with a focus on the national Affordable Care Act. Jon is a nationally recognized MIT economist who was one of the architects of the Massachusetts health care initiative of 2006 and a consultant to the Obama administration and Congress during the crafting of the national health care plan. He has just published a graphic book titled, Health Care Reform: What it Is, Why it's Necessary, How it Works.

Also speaking will be Brian Rosman (left), Director of Research at Health Care For All -- an ally of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) -- who will be addressing current health care cost control proposals in Massachusetts.

Bring your friends from the larger community to what will be an exciting and informative evening. Your RSVP to SocialAction@TempleIsaiah.net will be helpful in planning this event.

HEALTH CARE COST CONTROL CAMPAIGN

Health care costs are spiraling out of control. They currently consume 37% of our state budget and divert resources from other important public services, such as education, safety, transportation, and infra-structure improvement. Left unchecked, these costs also threaten the Health Care Reform legislation of 2006, which has given Massachusetts nearly universal health care coverage, for which we can be proud. Our Jewish tradition calls on us to address the injustices of inadequate and unaffordable health care.

Members of Temple Isaiah Social Action Committee, through our affiliation with GBIO (Greater Boston Interfaith Organization), have been working to address this issue. A GBIO Health Care Team, including Temple Isaiah members, has been meeting with leaders from across the health care community to learn about the drivers of these increasing costs and what can be done to contain them. GBIO has called for a freeze on health care premiums until a more sustainable plan to control costs can been implemented. And in addition, GBIO has developed its own public policy positions to insure that the consumer voice is being heard in whatever health care legislation moves forward.

The following are the core principles that GBIO believes are crucial to any meaningful health care reform legislation.

Hear Our Voice: Include consumers in payment reform decisions
Health care, not just sick care: Restructure payments to promote value
Protect everyone's health: Comprehensive care for all
Public health pays off: Invest in community prevention and public health
Fair payment: Effective public oversight of health care costs

To move this agenda forward and to make sure that the Massachusetts State Legislature enacts MEANINGFUL Healthcare Reform, GBIO our Tzedek Team is working with GBIO on a Legislative Campaign this Spring 2012 that will involve:

1. Lobbying efforts to let our state reps and senators know that we expect a bill that will control escalating healthcare costs and also promote general health and quality standards in our Commonwealth.

2. Participation in potential rallies and/or press conferences to bring our concern to the legislators and to the general public at large.

We want to get more members of the Temple Isaiah community involved in this important campaign. If you are interested in participating, or would like more information, please contact Don Detweiler, Larry Fuhrman, Debbie Wengrovitz, or Karen Freidberg (see Temple Directory).

Organizing for Social Justice – Pilot Program Launched in Arlington

Social Justice leaders from Temple Isaiah, Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, and Temple Shir Tikvah in Winchester have been meeting over the past several months to explore areas of common interest. We decided to launch a pilot “Listening Campaign” in Arlington organizing a series of house meetings to hear the stories of problems and pressures that families have to share. We will welcome members of other synagogues and Arlington Jewish families who are unaffiliated to participate as well. Drawing on these conversations, we hope to identify common concerns we can act on in Arlington. As common interests emerge, we expect to seek out others as partners and allies in potential advocacy efforts.

This initiative, which will take place from July through September, represents an exciting collaboration with two other synagogues who are members of the Great Boston Interfaith Organization. If you have any questions, please contact Sue Tafler (see Temple Directory).

Move Our Money Campaign

“If you lend money to my people, to the afflicted one (who lives) beside you, you are not to be to him like a creditor, you are not to place on him excessive-interest.” (Exodus 22:25, Everett Fox translation).

Maimonides taught that loans should be a vehicle to self-reliance and not lead to a cycle of debt. (Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10:7)

The goal of our Move Our Money campaign is to ignite a national conversation around predatory lending, encouraging and challenging our elected officials to reinstate federal usury laws and rein in excessive interest rates for consumer loans (e.g., credit cards, payday loans). Interest rates on credit cards by the major national banks are approaching 30%, putting a crushing burden of debt on those struggling with the current economic crisis. People are losing homes, giving up dreams of higher education, and spending their life paying off debt that only seems to grow.

We are working with GBIO on this important social justice issue

Temple Isaiah is one of the 55 faith institutions in GBIO (Greater Boston Interfaith Organization), a broad‐based organization working to coalesce, train, and organize the communities of Greater Boston across all religious, racial, ethnic, class and neighborhood lines for the public good. Temple Isaiah and the other GBIO congregations have been listening to families who have lost jobs, pensions, savings, and dreams for their future. Too many families are being crushed under the weight of debt, and the high rates and fees being charged by banks is playing a critical role in that. With GBIO organizing our collective power to fight for social justice, we can strive to hold both public and private power holders accountable for their public responsibilities. In 2009, GBIO together with MetroIAF (GBIO is a member of MetroIAF, a network of 17 broad‐based community organizations like GBIO throughout the East Coast and Midwest) kicked off a national anti‐predatory lending campaign.

A quick primer on federal and state usury laws and unregulated interest rates
The elimination of federal usury laws in the United States in the 1980s ushered in an era of deregulation of banks. Although Massachusetts’s own usury laws specify caps on interest rates, this only applies to banks headquartered within the state. The major national banks that dominate the consumer lending market in Massachusetts can ignore the Massachusetts cap of 18% by incorporating in states like Delaware and South Dakota that have no limits on credit card interest.

Here are just a few examples of the lending practices of these national banks. In 2008, Bank of America increased credit card interest rates on customers with good credit who carried a balance to 28%. CitiGroup, in 2009, increased credit card interest rates on consumers with good credit to 29.99%. Wells Fargo/Wachovia is a major funder of the payday loan industry that preys on cash strapped working families by providing short‐term loans; the APR (annual percentage rate) on payday loans is at least 390% and some have skyrocketed to rates as high as 1,300%.

While banks should be able to receive their fair share of profit and credit should flow to all appropriate borrowers, families must still be protected from permanent indebtedness.

How will moving my money make a difference?
You can join GBIO's campaign against predatory lending by moving your money out of Bank of America, CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo/Wachovia (also known as the “Too Big to Fail” banks). When these banks ignored calls to rein in their outrageous credit cards rates, GBIO and MetroIAF started working with States and large institutions to move their money out of these banks. As these actions continue, the next step in the campaign is to get large numbers of individuals willing to publicly step forward and move their checking and savings accounts.

In all of the rage and media generated around the economic crisis in the past years, there has been little attention paid to credit card rates. How can we get Congress, the banks, and the media to focus on this issue? While each of our accounts individually may not seem significant, if many of us move money in a coordinated and public way, this gets the message out. By many individuals acting as part of a larger movement led by a collective of sister organizations across the country, this campaign can have a national impact.

While GBIO encourages all consumers to evaluate the banks and financial institutions they do business with in regard to their consumer-lending practices, the campaign is focused on Bank of America, CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo/Wachovia since they dominate the consumer lending market.

Wasn't this issue already resolved by recent banking legislation?
No, this legislation falls significantly short of what needs to be done. Although Congress has adjusted how much advanced notice a bank needs to give a customer if the interest rate will go up and how large the font size needs to be to explain a credit card policy, nothing was done to limit the level of interest a bank can charge. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency created by the recent financial regulation will not have the capacity to regulate interest rates.

If I move my money out of one of these national banks, where should I deposit it?
Community banks and credit unions often charge lower fees, pay higher interest on savings accounts, provide better customer service, offer more small business and homeowner support services, and strengthen our local economies. Federal credit unions are required to meet consumer protection guidelines including a 15% cap on interest rates for loans.

Have any questions? Interested in possibly moving your money? Want to get involved?
Before beginning a relationship with a local bank, you will want to consider services such as access to ATM’s and branches, account and overdraft fees, lending, investing and savings products, and home‐owner and small business programs. One of the Temple Isaiah Move Our Money Team will be glad to talk with you and get you information on steps to follow to move your money. We can also share what we have learned about community banks and credit unions in Lexington, Arlington, Bedford, and the other towns near Temple Isaiah as members of our Move Our Money Team have figured out how best to move our own bank accounts. Contact Sue Tafler (see Temple Directory).