Eric Lonergan believes it is our failure to grasp the true function of the financial system that has led to crisis.
In their daily commute on trains or the underground, most bankers read the financial press, work on their BlackBerries or dream about what to do with their bonuses. Eric Lonergan mulls over philosophical principles about life and money, and their deeper meanings.
Observing passengers on the train into the City, the M&G investments fund manager wonders how the bankers and civil servants can be so immersed in their own thoughts that they can, for example, remain sitting comfortably while pregnant women are left to stand.
"People are myopic towards themselves and others," says Lonergan, one of a small group of managers of M&G's $2.4bn (£1.5bn) hedge fund. "We've an illusion of independence, when we're closely interconnected."
One of the best examples of this misunderstanding, according to Lonergan, is our wrong-headed concept of money and the financial system – the real reason behind the credit crunch, he thinks. He has become so exercised by the fallout from the crisis that he has written a book summing up his thoughts. It is titled, simply, Money...
Elena Moya writes in The Guardian.
