REPOST from Paul Muolo Broker Universe…..VERY interesting point of view.

THE MAIN EVENT: When it comes to mortgage banking, it’s all about jobs folks. I know I might sound like a broken record on this topic but Friday was another one of those “this can’t be happening” days in the stock market. By the time the gate closed, the Dow had plunged 323 points, sending the yield on the 10-year near its 52-week low. There’s no point in rehashing the reasons for the carnage. You know what they are. But a few thoughts for you: We are in uncharted territory here. The good news for lenders (and I guess, servicers) is that mortgage rates are going nowhere any time soon. That’s a given, but how do you, as a mortgage banker, profit from this? Loan applicants should be beating down your doors, hoping to refi. Is anyone funding a 4% 30-year FRM yet? (If so, drop me a line atPaul.Muolo@SourceMedia.com.) But wait, before you can refi or buy a home, you need a job and if Uncle Sam is the only one doing any significant hiring, then we’re all in trouble. You can blame the poor job picture on technology, perhaps. Computers, cell phones, and all those gadgets we love make us more productive. Why hire another worker bee when one reporter (for example) can do the work of two? You get the picture. I wonder if the Republicans were in charge whether the jobs picture would be any better. We’ll never know, really. Come fall if angry voters pull the lever to “throw the bums out” most of the bums getting the boot (regardless of party affiliation) will be the Democrats. But what if the GOP captures the House and Senate? Will they prove to be the deficit hawks they now claim to be? The GOP certainly wasn’t worried about spending money when George W. Bush was in the White House. Anyway, it’s a mess. Then again, maybe the jobs picture is really better than the numbers show. Maybe, as one stock analyst said Friday morning, there really are a lot of “semi-retired” people out there, collecting unemployment because, well, they can, and these people are really just sucking the blood out of unemployment insurance funds and skewing the numbers upward. It appears the U.S. auto industry is actually on the mend, and hiring. But as we all know, homebuilding (traditionally) is a huge creator of jobs and right now that sector is flat on its back…