**Friday Hors d’oeuvres**

If you’re having a tough time starting the party chatter this weekend, any of the following tidbits might help get the party rolling. Here are this week’s conversation starters. Cheers!
• A star is (just) born: The Dutch soccer team VVV-Venlo has offered a ten-year professional contact to Baerke van der Meij, who just turned 18 months. All pro soccer players should be this cute .
• Iran threatens to block the Straits of Hormuz if new US/Israel—er UN, sanctions are imposed. US/Israel threatens war if the Straits are blocked. Hey, this could be an exciting New Year.
• Not to be outdone by pre-speech sippy-cup soccer stars, Chilean newspaper vendor Miljenko Bukovic has 82 tattoos of actress Julia Roberts, and it looks like he probably has room for a few more .
• Word has it that the Iowa State GOP has decided to move the counting of the caucus votes to an undisclosed location. Ron Paul seems to have come too close to victory to leave democracy to chance.
• Wait wait! Stop the presses. Sinead O’Connor has divorced her fourth poor schlump after two weeks, claiming that “we were both living in a coffin, and I was crushing him.” Nothing compares to me?
• Rick Perry has proclaimed that the success of his candidacy is now up to God. Nevermind that he has proven himself a less than useful idiot here on Earth.
• You know the economy is in bad shape when a promising neo-fascist state makes cuts to the Department of Homeland Security.
• Michele Bachmann has set her evil eye (you know the one) on Ron Paul for stealing the affections of Kent Sorenson, her Iowa campaign chair. Bachmann says that Sorenson was offered “a lot of money.” Sorenson claims that such statements were exactly the reason he fled from her campaign.
• File under ‘Hiding Behind Mom’s Apron’. “I mean, gosh darn it, politics is tough, mom.” Scott Brown hurt by Elizabeth Warren saying all those true things about him.
• Piling on: A Bachmann PAC has quietly transferred its allegiance to Mitt. Mrs. Bachmann is not amused. We fear the day this woman scorned is forced to drop out. Marcus probably does, too.
• Jon Stewart’s fake news crushes FOX’s fake news.
A final holiday thought…
• Just wondering. What are you doing New Year’s Eve?
Wishing you a Happy New Year’s, from the gang at Sovereign Funding Group!
That’s it for this weekend’s party topics. If you have some hot topics of conversation items for next Friday’s list, give us a shout.

More blogs: http://www.sovereignfunding.com

Hedging Bets For 2012

2011 will be remembered as the year of disaster capitalism. Almost $6.3 trillion was wiped from the global markets. While the Dow went through major upheavals almost daily, the net gain/loss for the year was absolutely flat. After all the drama, 2012 is looked to as the telltale year of global health for decades to come.
The Eurozone woes which began in earnest at the end of November are as yet unresolved, despite reassurances of European leaders and wishful thinking on the part of American analysts. In truth, European and US banks are broke. There is no new money to be found, and the engine of the global economy is running on fumes of mounting debt. At some point the whole thing has got to crash and many analysts see it all breaking loose in 2012.

Sovereign debt was a term that came into the public conscience in 2011, and in 2012 we may see the peripheral Eurozone countries so overwhelmed by their indebtedness that they will be literally owned by the financial institutions which have helped them simply tread water. Ironically, when countries such as Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain are forced out of the EU, they will again fall back on the drachma or the lira, the currencies which will reinstate their sovereignty at the cost of their economies and their living conditions being laid to ruin.

Read more: http://www.sovereignfunding.com/blog

You, Me, and a Coffeehouse

 

http://www.sovereignfunding.com/?cat=460

Coffee Ground – Morning Stomping Grounds

http://www.sovereignfunding.com/blog/2011/10/coffee-ground-morning-stomping-grounds.html

The Coffee Bean – America’s Energizer Bunny

http://www.sovereignfunding.com/blog/2011/10/the-coffee-bean-americas-energizer-bunny.html

Coffee Anyone?

http://www.sovereignfunding.com/blog/2011/10/coffee-anyone.html

Coffee Shop - Sovereign "Grounds"