Good houskeeping, the European social democratic way

Good "housekeeping" in the EU member states is always a must but Sarkozy, the current Dutch government, Merkel and others must be sacked for obsessing about it!

For setting targets that are too unrealistic, in terms of the actual numbers as well as the whole philosophy of setting strict targets and obsessing about reaching them. That is also a problem with inflation (the 2% "magic" target), even the targets of the Europe 2020 "growth Strategy". Economics, including fiscal and budgetary ones, are not like Physics or Chemistry, they are part of social sciences and as such they must be treated with a grain of salt. People are not robots, neither are their economic, social, political and policy  actions.

Some politicians are willing to bend to the demands of financial markets.

Since many years ago I have written about the demands placed on listed companies by the financial market. The pressure to meet specific targets on a quarterly basis. And the negative impact that this has on the medium term performance of the corporation.

In recent years, the same pressure is being put on countries, their economies.

Time for that to stop! That should be one of the philosophies of the social democrats in the EU27.

Of course states, as companies do, need to improve their accounting procedures, know what they are spending and why (the why part is management accounting as opposed to financial accounting). To keep their finances solid but without "human sacrifices" of the obsession austerity kind. The preservation of the European Social Model and the need for the recognition of the positive role economic immigrants can play in the funding of the social model of an ageing EU27 (instead of scapegoating them).

To make a humanist EU the beacon for others in the world, since the American beacon has been dying out in recent decades (see also the resistance to not only HillaryCare of the Bill Clinton 1st term but also of Obamacare, especially the public option).

In a secular Europe, economic religions such as growth via austerity, classic, neo ir ordo liberalism and of course neo-Marxism have no place! Policy must provide solutions for real problems of real people.