Jobs. The media is nonstop about what the government can do to improve the jobs picture. All the politicians trying to get a new job, to be the President of the United States are talking about their plans. The current administration is going to do a state of the union address on jobs. What none of them seem to understand is the government cannot help the job picture. The only thing they could do is just please get out of the way of small business. Stop scaring the consumer is the one thing that perhaps they could do.

To put the jobs issue into real perspective let's look at the whole picture. Unemployment is running at just under 9% in most areas, some a little better, some a little worse. Well what used to be considered FULL EMPLOYMENT is a 5% unemployment rate. Much under that and businesses have great difficulty in finding qualified workers to fill positions. For most of my business career of over 40 years, the unemployment rate ranged from about 5% to 7% if good economic times. So the issue is at most 4% of qualified workers who want and need a job. All of this talk and frightening rhetoric is about 4% or less of the work force. In my opinion, if the government stopped some of the new onerous regulations that have been promulgated over the last few years, and promised to stop writing any more for awhile, business would know what to expect and start looking at expansion. A 4% problem is not gigantic, it is fixable. Politicians and media please get out of our way.

So if you are thinking about improving your home's energy efficiency, comfort and value by adding new highly energy efficient vinyl replacement windows, do it. Do it now and stopped listening to all the talking heads. We are not in crisis, we are only hearing all this because that is what makes the news. It's your home, it's your family, take care of them both and all will be well. Seize the day, Carpe Diem!