I heard a man (didn’t catch his name) on television yesterday say that President-Elect Barack Obama is going to create thousands of jobs for people to “weatherize” houses. He didn’t say how Obama would perform the magic of creating demand for house weatherizing that apparently does not exist now. Private businesses would be providing those services if the demand existed.

A real job is an activity that adds to the national wealth. That is, it produces something of real value, something people want and are willing to pay for out of their own pockets. A job “created” by the government obviously does not add that kind of value; it is just another form of public welfare. Apparently, what Obama has in mind is hiring hordes of people to knock on our doors and tell us that they can weatherize our houses for some heavily subsidized price, or perhaps for free.

He apparently believes that the only reason people aren’t weatherizing their houses on their own is that they can’t afford it. This is not necessarily true. For the most part, weatherizing a house means sealing air leaks to make it less expensive to heat or cool. There is a downside to living in an airtight house; it can cause health problems and possibly suffocation. Why make your house airtight and then have to open a window to get fresh air to breathe?

Consider your car. It is designed to transport four or more people in a relatively confined space. It is relatively airtight for reasons other than heating and cooling. So you often have to slightly open a window or two to get needed fresh air, or you use the provided settings on your car’s HVAC system to allow fresh air to pass through your car.

Houses aren’t as confined as cars but you probably spend more time in your house than in your car. My house isn’t even close to being airtight — I can see light shining through the cracks around my doors — but it starts to feel stuffy after a few hours inside.

Guidelines for Obama and his minions: Breathing fresh air good; stuffy house bad. Free market good; central planning bad.