Job disability a headache for recovery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Monica Soltes was excited 10 years ago to leave Merrill Lynch and start her own business as an independent financial planner in San Diego.

Some statistics cannot be understood without being set within a political framework, because they reflect politics as much as, or more than, they do reality. The unemployment rate is an example and a cautionary tale. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the seasonally adjusted official unemployment rate for February fell to a four-year national low of 7.7%. While the White House cautiously congratulated itself, Republicans quickly pointed to what is often called the real unemployment rate; it stood at 14.3%.

Most people know living without health insurance is very risky (and shouldn’t be done). But people are much less aware of the importance of long term disability insurance. The census bureau estimates that you have a 20% chance you will be disabled in you lifetime. A disability can decrease your earning power and also can increase your expenses (to cope with your disability). In my opinion your emergency fund is best used for short term disability insurance.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Moviegoers at a San Diego theater ducked for cover as officers stormed in during a film screening and shot and critically wounded a gunman hiding in their midst. No one else was hurt in the shooting Saturday inside Reading Cinemas Carmel Mountain in northern San Diego, officer David Stafford said.

Looking for another reason for an artificially low unemployment rate? Consider disability fraud, people claiming disabilities they do not have such as mental illness. Prior to the great recession 33% of applicants claimed mental illness. The number is 43% now. There was fraud before, of course. There is even more fraud now. Please consider Jobless disability claims soar to record $200B as of January

1. "California's Silicon Valley is Hiring Again" -- "Silicon Valley is starting to pop again. Green tech is alive, as is anything in social networking. Venture capitalists are investing. Google is hiring 2,000 workers this year; Facebook is moving into new quarters with room for hundreds of additional employees.

California teenager Coco Vandeweghe rallied to upset Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA San Diego Open.Qualifier Vandeweghe, ranked 205th in the world, shook off her poor start to topple the ninth-ranked Russian, who is seeded third in the hard court event.Vandeweghe won her second straight main draw match after dropping 13 of her previous 15 career WTA matches.Zvonareva appeared to be headed toward an easy victory when she broke Vandeweghe's serve three times in the opening set.

The huge comic book and pop culture convention is outgrowing the San Diego Convention Center. All three cities want the crowds and their tourist dollars. Call it a clash of the titans. ¶ San Diego has been home to the wildly successful comic book and pop culture convention, Comic-Con International, for nearly 40 years. But with the four-day festival surging in popularity and outgrowing the San Diego Convention Center, Los Angeles and Anaheim are vying to steal the lucrative show away.