Asia Bond or Art?

Today, the former prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, proposed that a new Asia bond should be established by the nations of Asia with the goal of reducing participating countries' dependence on U.S. dollar investments. These countries generate an annual combined balance of trade surplus of around $400 billion versus the U.S'. annual deficit of $800 billion (averaged over the past decade).  Specific U.S. rescue packages launched just in the past two months, combined with today's announcement of the rescue of the commercial paper market, put the U.S. on the hook for at least another $2 trillion in emergency spending, none of which is likely to actually dampen the current recession. 

The prime minister argues that given the pullback in U.S. consumer spending brought on by the recession, combined with the severe hits to performance that these nations' private and sovereign investment vehicles have taken in the U.S. markets, translates to this need to create just such an alternative investment to U.S. treasury bills. More specifically, their populations are crying out for tangible investments without a hint of derivative product about them. Given the corresponding performance of the art market, particularly Contemporary art, perhaps their most attractive alternative is not another financial instrument, but those on canvas instead.