LeBron James: Loved, hated, misunderstood

Posted on Sun, Jul. 11, 2010

LeBron James: Loved, hated, misunderstood

By Dan LeBatard
dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com

Maybe you didn't hear it above the poison and passion. Maybe you couldn't see it amid the fame and flashbulbs. Maybe the ego excess and general overindulgence made clarity impossible no matter how many hundreds of TV hours of droning dissection were devoted to the cause. But both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade said something interesting and identical when trying to explain the decision they made in joining forces with the Miami Heat. They both volunteered, out of nowhere, that the choice they made was not at all emotional.

Head over heart, in other words. That's not often where sports reside. James and Wade were being clinical, practical, reasoned. But every hostility that engulfed James after his choice was the opposite of that -- not only soaked in emotion but overwhelmed by it. Hatred. Fury. Envy. And name-calling from coast to coast. One NBA coach referred to James as a ``fraud.'' Cleveland's crazed owner called him a coward traitor in a raging public letter. These are visceral reflexes, and reflexes are rarely logical. One is not thinking clearly when setting fire to an expensive jersey, but the first word in ``fanatical'' is always ``fan,'' and fanatical is not a logical state of mind. So James went from one of the country's most beloved athletes to one of its most reviled in a single hour of flatulent television, a fall from grace faster than that of Tiger Woods, and for a crime I'm having some difficulty identifying.

ANALYZE THE ANGER

Sports are emotional. So too are its fans. It is part of what makes both so fun. But, because of that, what has happened to James outside of South Florida doesn't seem any kind of reasonable. The volume of the anger, and the intensity of it, doesn't fit at all with the actual choice he made. You can be put off by the way he made it, even though no amount of humility and contrition would have soothed the crushed people of Cleveland, but let's examine just his action, if that is even possible given the storm of noise that swirls in the reaction. Actions echo and endure more than words, right? Here, unemotionally, is the choice James made:

He chose to take less money. He chose to sacrifice being the singular star of his team in order to share the stage -- and in a city that belonged to another star, no less. He chose to admit to all that he needed to lean on a friend for help. He chose to go from the easy and forever love of little Cleveland to unholy criticism that would wildfire-spread from the burning jerseys in his hometown to a smoldering that would engulf our entire sports nation. He chose to go from hero to villain. Chose it. Think about that. He chose to go from love to hate. And he chose to subjugate his enormous ego in the name of team. In other words, he put winning above all else -- above money, adoration, even home.

And that's a bad thing? Doesn't America usually love that kind of rah-rah sacrifice in sports? Don't those ideals usually get transformed into Hoosiers instead of Hatred? Given his standing, the reigning two-time MVP in his prime at 25, it is only a decision that is without precedent in the history of American sports. If people wouldn't laugh you out of the room because he is making $110 million for bouncing a basketball, you could make the argument that what James did, if indeed he was aware of the backlash it would cause, was damn near noble and brave. Pioneers rarely get to be popular while in the middle of the pioneering. Real leadership always risks unpopularity.

Let's give this the scale breathless television has given it now for months. Let's make James an actual global giant. Let's make him, physically, bigger than the United States. Now watch him, without emotion, step with one of his signature sneakers upon the little hometown he outgrew. And let's have him do it in such a clumsy and shocking way that the little people around Cleveland scurry and cry and scream and burn, and the reverberation of that moment, shown live on television, makes America shake from sea to tremoring sea.

EGO PLUS TV

That ain't going to feel any kind of good. And we're going to want the giant to apologize or empathize or feel some sort of connection with his worshippers. But, sorry, ego is a big part of what makes the giant the giant, and bloated television fed that insatiable beast for months. And, besides, he isn't sorry. The giant has told you, in words and now in deeds, that all he craves is winning. Maybe, if he's at all aware or compassionate or empathetic, he'll regret the way he presented this decision one day. But he clearly doesn't regret the decision itself.

And that was a rather amazing thing we witnessed Friday night in a gyrating Miami, an arena in an indifferent sports town filling with people even though there would be no game. The giant was so happy to be this close to big winning that he chose to stand in the shadow of the smaller Wade. On the posters. On the scoreboard. On the stage. Wade was always in the middle, at the center. The more famous player, the global icon, was always off to the side. By his choice. An unemotional one.

Amid smoke and music and roaring, Wade, James and Chris Bosh were introduced as The Three Kings, a ridiculous designation to give Bosh (a ridiculous designation to give anybody, really) but particularly ridiculous for a guy from Toronto whose teams have had more appearances in the lottery than in the playoffs. And Bosh, so new to it all, stepped out into it with gusto, throwing his head back and screaming into the noise while James simply nodded his head with royal approval.

Point is, James used to be nicknamed the King all by himself. But already, before a ball has bounced, he is in the process of elevating his teammates.

That said, you can see why this was infuriating to the rest of America. That's how you celebrate after you've won something big, not before. The entire tone-deaf way this all has played out, though we love it here in bandwagon Miami, is entirely unlovable everywhere else. The choice James made, and the way he made it, makes him a lot less likable in the eyes of most people outside of South Florida. Yankee champions Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, graceful gluttons, would never celebrate like this way even after they had accomplished something.

VIEW IN ORLANDO

The Orlando Magic general manager, like a lot of people in the sport, criticized James. Said he thought James was more of a competitor than that. Taking the easy way out. That's how this is being viewed elsewhere.

All of a sudden, after getting ravaged for all the ego in his absurd made-for-TV special, James is now being ravaged for his absence of ego, too. He should have been more selfish, evidently. He should have not only wanted to win, apparently, but he should have also wanted to hog all the credit and glory for said winning.

But, hey, maybe that's the fear talking. Three players just teamed to put a whole lot of good jobs in jeopardy. And put another group of emotions -- terror, envy, fury -- into just about every other fan base. These three guys are in their prime. And they've hogged the best emotion in this sport -- hope.

And that's why the media critic for Sports Illustrated writes the following: ``Not trying to be alarmist or hyperbolic: I honestly believe the Miami Heat are now the most hated team in all of professional sport.'' Before a game has been played. Shoot, the Heat isn't even a team yet. The Heat isn't even half a team. Seven of the 12 spots on the roster are empty.

What has happened isn't any kind of fair, of course. The Heat have built an instant dynasty with dollars, and that is hard to cheer. But maybe this is what makes everyone uncomfortable, too:

James did it without emotion in an emotional world, crushing his poor hometown with the cold-blooded streak we usually assign to champion killers Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant when they use it in ways that make us applaud. We salute Jordan and Bryant for being that kind of cutthroat because we saw them win with it again and again. In other words, we played the result, making that attitude a virtue only after we saw it succeed. But we've never seen a star of this magnitude cut throats quite like this -- before he has won, in order to win, even stepping on the neck of his hometown and home state in order to do so.

RAW REACTION

We forget that this kind of instinct is greedy and not easily controlled, no matter how superhuman its owner. Jordan, patron saint for winning, punched teammate Steve Kerr in the face. Bryant made a big public mess in demanding a trade. They did this emotionally when frustrated. James is frustrated now, too. But not emotional. May God have mercy on Cleveland the first time the Heat play there, when Wade and James are emotional. Because of how conditional the love always was in Cleveland, because the loyalty only went one way, because the owner wrote that public letter, because Cleveland always needed him a lot more than he needed Cleveland, that will be the night Wade will be doing a whole lot of passing to his great friend. That'll be the game Wade returns this King-sized favor and steps from up front and in the middle to right to his friend's side.

James was shown video of his jersey burning on ESPN, and we all got to see his first reaction, raw and real.

``I can't get involved in that,'' he said. ``One thing I didn't want to do is make this an emotional decision.''

And then he referred to himself in the third person, saying LeBron James had to do what was best for LeBron James, which is part of the problem here. The delivery. The packaging. How he did this is obscuring what he did. That one-hour infomercial on ESPN was a godforsaken mess Thursday night, the worst television idea since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's empty vault. The way James chose to make his announcement was cheesy and ridiculous and a monument to the kind of childish me-me-me fans despise from arrogant athletes. It was also benign and fun and funny, but it doesn't feel that way to fans when an athlete dares to toy and tease with those damn emotions. So it becomes one of the worst ideas an athlete has ever had in theory and in execution -- a disaster so epic that it buried James' unprecedented message about winning and sacrifice.

LEBRON VS. KOBE

So, of course, he was called names. Bryant would have had the courage to go it alone, it was argued, even though when Bryant really went it alone he kept losing very fast in the playoffs and begged for a trade and made a public mess trying to get out of his situation to, um, be with better teammates. That was the same Bryant, incidentally, who was only in that position to begin with because he couldn't co-exist with Shaquille O'Neal and preferred to go it alone. We can be awfully convenient and inconsistent with our moralities in sports, using only that scoreboard as a character referendum to separate life's winners from losers. But Bryant was under contract when he sought better teammates by demanding a trade and embarrassing his employer; James was a free agent, free to work with whomever he chose, and I'm guessing most of us would choose jobs that gave us the most of what we wanted.

James made a good decision. Sound. Reasonable. With a lot more staked on the consequences than any of those who are angry. Jordan, patron saint for winning, never took a public-relations risk like this. Wade didn't take it, either.

Again, James did this without emotion.

Head over heart.

Head over heart.

Head over heart.

Head for the exits, NBA fans outside of South Florida. Now is when the King goes looking to really break your heart.

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22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America

22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America
Michael Snyder

The 22 statistics that you are about to read prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

See proof of the Middle Class extermination -->

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker ten times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

• 30 Statistics That Prove The Elite Are Getting Richer, The Poor Are Getting Poorer And The Middle Class Is Being Destroyed
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What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about 6 unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.

See proof of the Middle Class extermination >

Source

So Much For The Idea That Cutting Taxes Leads To Higher Savings And Investment

Is it true, as those who call for more tax cuts often assert, that lower taxes lead to higher savings and increased business investment?

Paul Kasriel of Northern Trust reports, you decide:

From 1955 through 2008, the median eight-year compound annualized growth in real business fixed investment expenditures was 4.325%. In the eight years ended 2008 the compound annualized growth in real business fixed investment expenditures was 2.1%. What were long-term capital gains and top personal marginal income tax rate doing in the eight years ended 2008?

Business Investment (red) and Tax Rates (Blue, Green)

Image: Northern Trust

From 1955 through 2008, the median eight-year moving average personal saving rate was 8.1%. In the eight years ending 2008, the average personal saving rate was 2.9%. What were long-term capital gains and top personal marginal income tax rates doing in the eight years ended 2008?

Personal Savings Rate (red) and Tax Rates (Blue, Green)

Image: Northern Trust

Source

Why The Market Is Horribly Overvalued Right Now

By Comstock Partners:

We stated in the 4th of July holiday comment that we would discuss valuations in the “special report” we wrote last week. As it turned out the “special report” got too bogged down in the discussion of why the private debt in our country would have to be deleveraged before a significant recovery could take place. We encourage you to read it.

This comment will now address why there is so much controversy about valuations in the stock market presently. The bulls are constantly exclaiming in the financial press and financial TV why investors must buy equities due to these “fantastic valuations”. We asked our viewers to prepare for this comment by taking a look at the section on our home page titled “Limbo, Limbo, How Low Can it Go?” There you will find many different metrics that show the historical valuations and where the stock market sold at the peaks and troughs over many years. All these charts were produced by Ned Davis Research, which we consider the best data source available.

We believe after studying the charts mentioned above you will find that none of the most popular metrics will show the stock market to be inexpensive. The only way the main valuation metric P/E Ratios) could show the market to be cheap is to replace the age old “reported earnings” (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles-GAAP) with “operating earnings”.

The pundits are using forward looking “operating earnings” in order to reach for their estimates of 10 to 12 times earnings. “Operating Earnings” which exclude “write-offs”, make no sense whatsoever, and only came into existence in the mid 1980s in order to make the market look undervalued. We advised you to look at the articles written by us and published in Barron’s on our home page (Comstock in the News). The first was in May of 2003 titled “A Simple Calculation”, and the second titled “What’s the Real P/E Ratio?” written in May 2008. We just reread the 2008 article and found some interesting statistics we used back then and until now didn’t recall just how far off the earnings estimates were.

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This is what we stated in the article back in May 2008, “Look at the numbers. Reported earnings for the S&P 500 for 2007 were just over $66. The operating earnings for 2007 were $84.54. The estimated numbers for 2008 are about $69 for reported earnings and about $90 for operating earnings. By the way, these estimates have just recently been revised downward drastically, due to the slowdown in the U.S. economy.” Imagine what they were before they were revised DOWNWARD DRASTICALLY. The actual numbers came in at $14.88 for reported earnings vs. the estimate of $69, and $49.51 for operating earnings vs. the estimate of $90 (see actual earnings in the attached chart). This means that with just 7 months to go in 2008 the earnings were off the $69 estimate by $54, and off the $90 estimate by $40. This goes to show how absurd it was and still is to use forward earnings-and imagine if we used the estimates before they were revised downward drastically. Numerous articles have been published which show that forward estimated earnings are not reliable.

The earnings estimates for the year 2010 are about $82 for operating and $67.35 for reported earnings. The earnings estimates for 2011 are $95 for operating, and $78 for reported earnings. As bad as it is to use forward earnings, the really insane part of these estimates is that virtually all of “Wall Street” is using Operating earnings that were not even in existence before the mid 1980s. Even more outrageous is the fact that these earnings exclude “write-offs” even if the write-offs are recurring and disregard the GAAP earnings (reported earnings) which were the only earnings ever used before the mid 1980s (and which became more popular each year as it became harder to make stocks look undervalued-especially during the dot.com bubble).

If you break down these earnings estimates by the quarter or half year, you will find that the estimates are higher for the second half of this year than the first and clearly higher by about 15% in 2011. We find this to be curious since it seems to us that the recovery is running out of steam. The main ingredients for virtually any upswing in the economy are dependent upon 1. Employment 2. Consumer Spending 3. Housing 4. Increase in Exports, and 5. Restocking of Inventory. Usually these ingredients need easy money or some form of inflation. Despite low interest rates banks are reluctant to loan money to small businesses and individuals. These ingredients needed to stimulate the economy have all either rolled over or never really got started (Housing-see 6/10/10 “The Dire Outlook for Housing”). Retail sales were just released and were disappointing for the second month in a row after a false start from the stimulus package. Employment continues to disappoint and the rebuilding of inventory has come to a screeching halt. The current account deficit has just recently gotten worse and the dollar is strengthening vs. the Euro.

The worst part of the ingredients that produce an economic rebound is the fact that deflation is permeating the whole system. The Fed was worried about deflation back in 2003 and talked about it constantly. Well now, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the median Consumer Price Index was virtually unchanged at 0.0% in May while the CPI was down 0.1% in April and down 0.2% in May. The PPI released today was down 0.5% in June vs. down 0.3% in May. In 2003 the median CPI from Cleveland was up about 1.5% and the CPI was up 2.3% during all of the Feds ranting about deflation and how they would make sure it will not occur in this country. Don’t believe them.

It sure doesn’t seem that the economy has much going for it, and if that is the case, it is hard to believe that the earnings will be higher in the second half than the first (which is presently the estimate), and really hard to believe that they will increase by 15% next year (which is also the estimate). If we use the reported earnings estimate of $67.35 (which we don’t believe) you get a P/E of 16.2, if you use the estimate of next year of $77.64 (which we really don’t believe) the P/E works out to just over 14. All of these P/E ratios on reported earnings are above the average for forward earnings and do not reflect an undervalued market.

Our favorite means of determining a fair valuation is to smooth the reported earnings over a 9 year period of time by taking the 9 year average and grow the average for 4.5 years (one half the 9 years) at 6% (where earnings have grown historically) to arrive at the $64 of smoothed earnings. Using the smoothed earnings of $64 you arrive at the overvalued level of 17 times. We also believe that this market will not bottom out until it reaches 10 times or lower the smoothed earnings. Although this may sound implausible, we note that the S&P 500 sold at a P/E of 10 or under smoothed earnings in 17 of the past 60 years.

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261 Bits of Advice for Saving Money / Avoiding Financial Problems

This humungous roundup includes healthy foods that cost under $1 a pound, retirement myths, websites for free TV viewing, most annoying things about grocery stores, stuff marketed to kids that kids simply don't need, bargain booze picks from bar experts, and wedding dresses that you'll wear more than once—and not only if you get hitched multiple times.

3 money-saving strategies that can backfire
Such as: doing your own taxes.

There's no way that you, who focuses on taxes for a few days every April, can be as informed as someone who arm-wrestles our tax code for a living.

4 splurges that make sense
Such as: designer perfume.

Cheap scents aren't formulated to last. At best, they'll last a good two or three months before becoming distorted or running empty because you've been spritzing so much to get the same high-end effect.

5 great sites for free TV
Such as: ATDHE.net.

If you're looking for a place to watch sporting events, ATDHE.net is one of the better free options online. The site itself is very bare bones, but when there's a big game on, this is the place to go.

5 wedding dresses you'll wear more than once
Such as: going casual.

If you're getting married on the beach, you may want to go for a silk sarong dress that can easily be worn again without any conversion or alteration. For the wedding, add a hair accessory with tropical flowers.

5 tips to save up to $268 in annual utility costs
Such as: do laundry with cold water.

Hot water heating accounts for 90% of the energy a machine uses when washing clothes.

6 reasons a telecom triple-play bundle may not be the cheapest game in town
Such as: You could go a la carte.

Maybe you don't want a land-line phone. Then a triple-play package doesn't make sense for you. Or perhaps you'd rather not pay for 200 cable channels you don't watch. Choose a wireless-phone service and a broadband Internet provider, and then sign up with an online video service to watch movies and TV programs.

7 stupid retirement myths exposed
Such as: I won't ever want to retire.

You may not have a choice, honey. The typical retirement age hovers around 62, and nearly four in 10 retirees say they were forced out of work earlier than they'd planned because of layoffs, poor health or the need to take care of a loved one.

8 ways to maximize gas mileage
Such as: create a fuel-efficient route.

Plot out errands for the shortest route possible around town.

9 top group-buying sites
Such as: 8coupons.

8coupons culls 79 group-buying daily deals from sites across the country, which can total close to 400 promotions on a given day. While this is the ugliest daily deal site I've seen, it does offer a wide selection of savings and is easy to search.

10 products to always buy generic
Such as: pantry staples.

Flour, sugar, salt, spices and other single-ingredient items are all the same. Really, they are. Government regulations require the same production and storage for generics as they do for brands, so buying a label is like giving money away for something you use every day.

10 gourmet meals for under $10
Such as: Venetian Chicken.

By Nina Hoffman of RecipeLion.com. Cost: $8.95, or $2.24 per serving. Go ahead and buy a bottle of wine to add the optional two tablespoons in this slow cooker meal. You're saving enough cash to justify the splurge.

10 things kids just don't need
Such as: 3-D movies.

Every single preview of the five shown before a recent outing to Toy Story 3 advertised an upcoming picture in 3D. This is a trend that's gone way over board, especially for kids who don't feel comfortable wearing the special glasses every time they hit the theaters.

10 'middle skill' jobs that pay $50,000
Such as: claims adjuster.

2008 median salary: $58,990.

13 semi-secret all-star ballpark deals
Such as: St. Louis Cardinals.

Last year's NL Central champs are sitting comfortably in second, behind the red-hot Cincinnati Reds. For a consistently winning team, Busch Stadium offers consistently good deals; the best of which is the Grand Slam Pack. Buy four tickets in select sections and receive four hot dogs and sodas for free. Most packs cost around $60 and are only good for weekday matches. But with nearly 18 eligible games left, a night with the Cards sounds more appealing than ever.

20 most annoying things at the grocery store
Such as: the 10-for-$10 trick.

When you see chips on sale at a 10-for-$10 price, what do you do? Do you buy all 10 to get the buck-a-piece price? Well, that's certainly what the grocery stores want you to do. But a little-known secret is that in most grocery chains, those items will ring up for one dollar each -- no matter how many you buy. The same goes with most "Buy One, Get One Free" offers.

21 ways to save money on restaurants, day trips, and more
Such as: membership movie deals.

If you're a member of a discount club like Costco or any other industry organization, like AAA, members may get discounts when they buy movie tickets in bulk. At Costco, you can buy two movie tickets for $15 and use them at participating theaters.

22 statistics that prove the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America
Such as: percentage of people living paycheck to paycheck

61% of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49% in 2008 and 43% in 2007.

36 free food deals for your birthday
Such as: Cold Stone Creamery.

Enjoy a free ice-cream creation at Cold Stone when you join their birthday club.

50 healthy foods for under $1 a pound
Such as: oatmeal.

The good old-fashioned "slow cooking" kind ... that takes all of five minutes.

Source

'Bush administration most lawless in history'

Gaza children set world record for basketball Gaza children set world record for basketball

Gaza children set world record for basketball

Study Links Calcium Supplements With Heart Attack Risk

By: Chris Gentilviso

Calcium tablets

Steve Horrell/Science Photo Library/Corbis

Patients taking the daily pill use it for a variety of reasons, topped by bone health. But new research in Friday's British Medical Journal Online points toward greater susceptibility to another potentially fatal ailment.

WebMD notes that researcher Ian Reid, MD, of New Zealand's University of Aukland, has conducted a new calcium-supplement study on almost 12,000 patients. His results found that regular intake of the pills caused a 20-to-30% spike in heart-attack risk. ABC News adds that a possible cause behind the heightened cardiovascular concerns is that the supplements stand to increase blood serum calcium levels.

But there is no universal code that all calcium patients can follow. The BMJ's study was accompanied by an editorial on the role of the supplements in osteoporosis, which notes that no patient can experience the same benefits or risks from a daily calcium pill.

"Calcium supplements, given alone, improve bone mineral density, but they are ineffective in reducing the risk of fractures and might even increase risk; they might increase the risk of cardiovascular events, and they do not reduce mortality," said Dr. John Cleland of the University of Hull in England and his colleagues in the BMJ editorial.

Past studies have gone in different directions, with calcium being touted as a predictor for heart attack risks. For more generic information on calcium, visit WebMD's overview page.

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How can water be fairly distributed?

ANALYSIS Clare Davidson Business reporter, BBC News

Some argue Australia's experience is an indicator of what is to come

By the time you read this you will have inevitably used water directly and indirectly since the start of the day.

The chances are you have no idea how much you have used.

But without it, many activities would have been impossible - from obvious processes such as drinking to washing - to having food to eat, using energy and enjoying any number of manufactured goods.

But as competing demands for water intensify, how can we ensure that water is fairly and affordably distributed?

Stress

See the water cycle

By 2030, 3.9 billion people are forecast to be living in areas under severe water stress, the OECD predicts. This is in addition to around one billion who already lack clean water today.

While the scale of the problem might be clear, opinions are fiercely divided over how to handle this pending crisis.

At one extreme are those who say water should be traded through markets, like a commodity, to optimise its value.

WATER TRENDS How availability, use and needs are changing across the world In graphics

At the other are those who argue water, specifically access to it, is a human right and is priceless.

Talking at a recent UN event, Maude Barlow, senior advisor on water to the organisation and an author and campaigner on water issues, said: "Water is not first and foremost a commercial good - though of course it has an economic dimension - but rather a human right and a public trust".

Daniel McCarthy, chief executive of Black and Veatch Water, a firm specialising in the treatment of water, says that water is indeed free.

But he goes on to add: "Of course, providing water is a business. What you pay for is the service that gets it to you in a reliable form.

Someone has to pay for infrastructure costs, ongoing maintenance, and staff, he says.

"The question is the degree to which it should be profitable."

Template

Looking ahead, many view Australia as a warning of what might happen elsewhere.

It has faced severe water shortages, and in response has adopted a complex water trading system to distribute the commodity better.

Water has often been heavily subsidised

Under the country's National Water Initiative, water rights can be transferred on a temporary or permanent basis between different parties, such as irrigators, environmental water managers, and water infrastructure operators.

The government argues that it allows "scarce water resources to be transferred to their most productive uses".

Don Blackmore, who was involved in the early stages of such a mechanism in Victoria in 1984 and today is chairman of eWater Cooperative Research Centre, goes as far as to say: "We would have gone to war without a water trading system".

Within such a framework, he says: "The value is what someone is prepared to pay you."

Too cheap?

"Every water issue is a local issue," says John Briscoe, professor of environmental engineering at Harvard University and until recently the senior water advisor of the World Bank. Many others echo this. "There is no one answer for providing or managing water," says Mr Briscoe.

So there is no easy formula to define its true value or cost.

But many agree that there has been huge wastage of this precious resource.

It has often been heavily subsidised. Paradoxically, analysts argue, this has meant water has been overused because it has been misleadingly cheap for the end user.

Those in favour of trading argue that unless the true cost of having water is made clear there is no motivation to be more efficient.

Trade choices

Mr Briscoe says as supplies become more constrained, there is more and more emphasis on "more value per drop of water".

"It was crazy for rice to be grown in [Australia's] desert. It was argued that the country needed it for food security.

"But if growing grapes and almonds creates more jobs and better exports, it's a better use of water," he argues.

Similarly, he says: "Having golf courses or casinos with water features in Nevada is not a moral issue.

FUTURE WATER STRESS Interactive map: Water stress in a changing world

"It is a practical issue."

If that is the best way to add value by creating jobs, so be it.

Some places, including Saudi Arabia, are re-assessing what they produce due to water shortages.

They have shifted away, sensibly in Mr Briscoe's view, from producing water-intensive crops like wheat.

Instead, they can import goods they need using money generated by oil.

But what about poor countries that are water-constrained? How will they trade?

The simple answer, says Mr Briscoe, is "with great difficulty".

"In some cases there will be massive migration to places where there is work," he adds.

If water is deemed a commodity, who will protect it, questions Ms Barlow.

"There is a risk that only the rich will have clean water, nature will have to fend for itself and there will be no incentive to stop pollution or conserve water," she says.

Growth

It would be a mistake to think trading systems are easy or quick to implement. Australia has taken 20 years to develop what is a highly sophisticated mechanism.

And Mr Blackmore says certain preconditions are essential to ensure an efficient and transparent system, such as well-defined property and land rights - which is not the case everywhere.

While water trading is still relatively limited, several investment banks have underlined the opportunities in the sector through investment in utilities or firms that develop technology to treat water.

In a report last year, Goldman Sachs said it continued "to be bullish on the long-term defensive growth opportunities in the $425bn global water sector".

Meanwhile, oil tycoon T Boone Pickens has been buying up ground water rights in Texas, as the state faces an increasing squeeze on demand.

It is hardly surprising some call water "blue gold".

Cost of dirt

While lots of money might be up for grabs in water-related investments, there is another side of the coin, namely the cost of dirty water.

Polluted water is a major contributor to deaths in the developing world, with young children among the most affected.

But investing in water treatment systems and infrastructure itself does not guarantee that the neediest actually get the water they require.

"There has been a lack of investment in water. It only takes priority when it starts becoming unavailable," says Black & Veatch's Mr McCarthy.

But by then it could be too late.

Australia is facing its worst drought in a century

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Calcium pills 'increase' risk of heart attack

By Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News

Calcium supplements are commonly taken by older people at risk of fracture

Calcium supplements taken by many older people could be increasing their risk of a heart attack, research shows.

The study, in the British Medical Journal, said people who took supplements were 30% more likely to have a heart attack.

Data from 11 trials also suggested the medicines were not very effective at preventing bone fractures.

Almost 3m people in the UK are thought to have osteoporosis and many take calcium pills to prevent fractures.

The study recommends doctors review their use of calcium supplements for managing osteoporosis.

The National Osteoporosis Society said most people should be able to get enough calcium through their diets, rather than reaching for the medicine cabinet.

The researchers said those who had a diet naturally high in calcium were at no increased danger.

'Limited benefit'

In all 12,000 people aged over 40 took part in the trials of calcium supplements of 500mg or more a day.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It is a balance of risks - people should consider the risks involved and how they apply to their own circumstances and discuss the matter with their GP”

End Quote Dr Alison Avenell Study author

The risk of heart attack was seen across men and women, was independent of age and the type of supplement given.

A small increased risk of death was seen in the study but was not statistically significant, the researchers said.

The reason for the increased risk of heart attack is not clear but it is thought the extra calcium circulating in the blood could lead to a hardening of the arteries.

Calcium in the diet is safe and the Food Standards Agency recommends adults have 700mg of calcium a day from milk, cheese and green, leafy vegetables.

Dr Alison Avenell, from the University of Aberdeen which did the research with colleagues in New Zealand and the US, said the evidence suggests calcium supplements only have a limited benefit in preventing fractures, especially when compared to other treatments available.

"It is a balance of risks - people should consider the risks involved and how they apply to their own circumstances and discuss the matter with their GP," she said.

She added the results did not necessarily apply to younger people with conditions for which they take calcium.

Judy O'Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the results should be interpreted with caution because the trials did not set out to look at the risk of heart attack.

"However, the research should not be completely ignored," she said.

"Any new guidelines on the prevention of fractures in those most vulnerable to them should take this type of analysis into account."

Dr Claire Bowring, of the National Osteoporosis Society, said: "We've always recommended that people should aim to get the calcium they need from their diet to help build stronger bones.

"If you get all of the calcium that you need from your diet and adequate vitamin D from exposure to sunshine, then a supplement will not be necessary."

She said there were still questions to be answered about the treatment of osteoporosis but advised people taking calcium supplements to talk to their GP, especially if they have a heart condition.

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