The government's inquiry into banking is the sticky-beak news of the week. This is an inquiry launched by political point scorers to placate their envy ridden constituents' hatred of profit.

For over a 150 years Australian banks have helped build this nation by offering security, and capital; they did so for profit, and good on them. Without these institutions New Zealand would still be a backwater and hand-to-mouth, undeveloped third world country. The burden of carrying the capital risk has been chosen by banks in exchange for profit, and lots of it. Contrary to popular belief, these profits are not ill-gotten, nor is it too much. Each dollar they make is a vote for their product; actually the large profits they make are due to their product being very, very popular. Or to put it in reverse, if you don't like banks making money – don't borrow any. It should be noted that banks are their own worst enemies. Their insufferable fawning and apologising to those that hate them gives sanction to their enemies. I see BNZ are apologising for their success by ‘giving back' with Community Day. Westpac are doing the same for ‘sustainability' with ‘Clean up the Beaches Day' or some such similar crap. No doubt of course these feel-good measures have an element of the profit motive involved; in that each bank is trying to ‘out-nice' each other for market share.