Or rather, why does any debt increase risk? Take a look at Wall Street now. Debt (over leveraging) and randomness wiped out every independent investment bank on Wall Street. Those that didn't fail are probably going to get nationalized (thank you comrade Bush).
The banks failed ultimately because they ran out of capital. They had too much debt and no one would lend them any more money for fear of losing it.
Now relate this to your personal life. A mortgage is a loan against your future income stream with a a home as collateral. Your bank doesn't want your house, they want a steady stream of income at a guaranteed return (at least the smart ones do).
If/when you lose your job, how is your mortgage going to help you? Try this experiment: call up your banker and tell him you just lost your job. Then tell him you'd like to borrow some money. Tell me what he says.
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"If/when you lose your job, how is your mortgage going to help you?"
It won't help, but the money that you saved in lieu of paying off your mortgage early will probably come in handy. It seems that paying off your mortgage early can increase your risk (assuming you don't have a sufficient safety net and/or you can't easily tap into the equity).