Competition is the mainstay of many businesses and individuals. How does UPS compete to hire drivers for their trucks? One way might be to offer air conditioning, which has been negotiated for the first time. Lenders and vendors are led by competitive people, and several own interests in major or minor league sports franchises, the latest being Stan Middleman & the Phillies. Competition in the food and beverage industry? SF’s Anchor Steam was scaling back, Tupperware is in rough straits, and now the owner of Pyrex and Insta Pot is filing for bankruptcy! How is the public expected to keep its leftovers!? Builders are out there competing for lots. Residential lenders don’t compete with real estate agents, but NAR is always discussing its lobbying efforts. This week the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is hosting a national, industry-wide campaign to grow its free grassroots advocacy network, the Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA), a non-partisan and effective way to participate in the political process. It only takes a minute or two to sign up, and there is strength in numbers! (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by SimpleNexus, the homeownership platform that unites the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process into one seamless, end-to-end solution that spans engagement, origination, closing, incentive compensation, and business intelligence. Today’s has an interview with CoreLogic’s Thom Malone on investor activity in the housing market and takeaways from the latest CoreLogic housing reports.)