Today is officially the first day of the G20 meeting. As I pointed out yesterday, world leaders have very different ideas on how to properly stabilize the world economy. The most dangerous proposals comes from the leaders of France and Germany. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are insisting that the world impose tighter financial regulations of banks, executive bonuses, hedge funds and offshore tax havens. And they say that these regulations are "non-negotiable." They are willing to discuss other things, so long as these issues are resolved.

Think forward ... consider the implications. How long before you hear from your boss that they are going to have to tweak your compensation to bring your salary, bonuses and benefits in line with some world standard. These leaders say they want to use international regulation to "rein in financial market excesses." That's just the half of it. This is really about international financial competition. France has what we would basically call a social welfare state. For example .. in 2000 France adopted a mandatory 35-hour work week. The idea was that if they could limit the number of hours that someone could work, employers would be forced to hire more workers to fill in the gaps. France actually had their work Gestapo cruising parking lots after hours taking down license numbers. They would then check on the owners of those cars to see if they were working too many hours. Now how's that for freedom? The law was relaxed in 2005 to allow workers to work more hours if employers would pay them more. Duhhhhh.

We could go on and on about the French work ethic. These people will strike at the drop of a hat. A farmer gets too little for his broccoli crop and suddenly hundreds of tractors are blocking major roads. And we haven't even mentioned the 5 to 8 weeks of mandatory vacation for French workers. While France carries on this way, the last thing they need is a country competing with them by allowing workers the freedom to work the hours they want to work and passing laws that hold strikers and unions in check.

Countries with high tax rates (like France) also don't like it all that much when other countries compete for their executive talent, their workers and their employers with lower tax rates. Sarkozy and Markel would like for some world body to regulate tax rates - at a high level of course - so that high-tax countries don't have to compete with these low-tax nations.

Our sovereignty is under attack in London. Do you care? No? Well, maybe this next Nuze bit will help you some: