While the global economic meltdown has caused immense problems, it might have dealt a major jump ahead to my plan to have my own island nation:

The Greek state must sell stakes in companies and also assets such as, for example, unpopulated islands,” Frank Schäffler, a member of parliament for the pro-business Free Democrats, told the Bild daily.

Marco Wanderwitz, an MP for Merkel’s own conservative Christian Democrats, said Athens should provide collateral for any money it receives from the European Union to help it out of its debt crisis.

“In this case, certain Greek islands also come into question,” added Wanderwitz.

“We give you cash, you give us Corfu,” the Bild commented.

Greece has around 6,000 islands off its coast, of which only 227 are inhabited, according to the country’s National Tourism Office website.

The Kingdom of Berg, at the corner of the Adriatic and the Med.  Of course, we’d have to import snow, but that’s a small price to pay for being my own potentate.

Now I just have to get someone to pay me a ton of money.