An interesting book has come out recently, written by the leading economist John Kay. In the book, Obliquity, he argues that our goals are best achieved obliquely, and that "the richest men are not the most materialistic. Nor has it ever been otherwise." It's a notion that can help us unpick the causes of the current economic catastrophe.

Citing a string of the world's most successful business people, from Rockefeller and Ford to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, Kay outlines how it is those who have a singular vision (bringing cars to the mass market, building the finest retailing company, for example) that do best in the auxiliary area of making money.

"Building a large and successful business, as did Rockefeller and Carnegie, Walton and Gates, requires exceptional talent and hard work, a devotion to business and to the detail of business. There is no reason to think these characteristics are linked to greed and materialism, rather the opposite."

Of course, there are those who do make money through a greedy and selfish outlook, but it is an extremely ineffective way of going about it, and can prove disastrous when applied to a company – or the economy.

As we have seen from the revelations about Goldman Sachs, the global economic meltdown wasn't just a quirk of the free market or a necessary financial re-adjustment, it happened because of the staggeringly destructive self-interest of a few.

As Kay says,

"The amassing of wealth, like the attainment of happiness, is an oblique process, and the overly direct approach frequently ends in the bankruptcy courts — or the criminal ones."

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