Gods?

BUDDHISM

Officials in a Tizzy Over 'Blasphemous' Beckham Sculpture

"The gilt sculpture of David Beckham in Wat Paiwas has left spiritual officials with some soul searching."

"The 0.3m statue of the Manchester United midfielder, carved by a sculptor who is also an avid fan, is on the pedestal of the temple's Buddha image, a spot reserved for minor deities."

"Suthipong Tantayapisarnsuth, deputy director general of the Religious Affairs Department, said: 'It is not suitable to create divergent styles of Buddha images because it is the most sacred thing for Thais and it is the national religion.'"

"The department would send officials to check the Buddha pedestal and decide if it is blasphemous."

"However, he conceded: 'There are no exact rules governing the pedestal of Buddha ... as long as it does not include women.'" - AFP

But, what effect will this whole David Beckham thing have on the markets? If the introduction of "divergent styles of Buddha images" was confined to just its impact on the Thai bhat the US Federal Reserve would not have insisted that the FOMC (the Fed's policy-making open market committee) factor this into its once gradualist approach to monetary policy.

Foreign currency dealers had largely discounted the effect on the bhat. In fact, the Thai bhat bounced back from a fresh seven-month intra-day low of 39.38 per dollar in late Asia trade yesterday due to dollar profit-taking by offshore parties. "The baht bounced back a bit as offshore players took profit from recent gains of the dollar to square positions," said a dealer at a major Thai bank. Clearly no one was shorting the bhat over this "Buddha affront," as one wag called it.

In Washington the idea that one could put a 0.3m statue of a Manchester United midfielder on a pedestal, without it creating serious waves further out on the financial pond was considered naïve. All sorts of unknowns, such as the seasonally adjusted consumer price index (excluding food and energy) for April, would have to be "refactorized" if the statue was allowed a permanent place on the pedestal. Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, repeated his now familiar concern that the rapid pace of demand growth was outstripping supply. With an uncharacteristic swipe at two sacred cows, Greenspan said, "You can't mix sports and gods and hope to come up with something sensible."