We Can Do Better Than That

Appeared in the Statesman-Journal on September 5, 2009

For “luxury living in the heart of Salem,”
The Rivers has asked for a loan.
“We desperately need a product to show,”
or so says one partner, Matt Sloan.

We’ve bailed out airlines, Big Oil, Detroit,
Freddie Mac and AIG,
so why not the Front Street condos as well?
It sounds okay to me.

In fact, we can do better than that.
Why loan when we can give?
Times are tough for all of us,
and even the well-off need places to live.

But why only give? It’s important, you see,
that we help the properties sell.
I’m sure we could get a helluva price
if we promise to buy them as well.