"We Can't Wait" initiative at work

You might remember that one of President Obama's "We Can't Wait" initiatives was to change the rules so that more people who are "underwater" with their mortgages could re-finance at lower interest rates.

Today a diarist at Daily Kos named murrayewv tells his story about what happened as a result.

Yesterday I went down to my local bank to see about refinancing my mortgage...December 1 was the first day the changes in mortgage refinancing removing the 125% valuation clicked in and we were there to take advantage...

For the first time ever we are looking forward to maybe a year where we aren't living paycheck to paycheck and can build a savings account. The $177 in mortgage relief we will experience will go a long way to helping us this year.

So thanks Barack, and thanks for the health insurance extension for our 23 year old son in grad school. As one of the 99% and a government worker whose salary has been frozen for 3 years, I am pretty psyched to see a little less austerity around here. I donated $50 to the reelection campaign and signed up for $10 a month through November 2012.

We've all heard over and over the disclaimers about how these initiatives are small and won't have a large impact on the overall economy. I suspect that's true. But I'm reminded of the story about the child who worked so hard to throw starfish back into the ocean so they could survive. When confronted with the enormity of the task of saving ALL the starfish, she responded by saying "I made a difference for that one."

Please enjoy this story as told by Johnny Clegg and friends as they celebrate "The Spirit of the Great Heart."