Gutted this afternoon to read of Rob’s passing. I consider him one of the last stalwarts of an actual fourth estate, that with his death is almost gone, now. Rob was urbane, knowledgeable, objective and insightful, well written and rightly respected. He leaves a  void in New Zealand journalism and New Zealand commentary proper. Thank … More RIP Journalist Rob Hosking

Imagine if someone, lets call them a moron, created and then forcibly imposed on business and individuals in their private lives a system as wasteful, costly, and Stalin-esque as this: they determined that all money coming into the banking system had to be audited and its owners interrogated as to the origin of that money … More Tales of Insanity from NZs Anti-Money Laundering Legislation. II.

This is the start of an occasional series evidencing the intrusive and wasteful insanity of New Zealand’s anti-money laundering legislation. The quick context of the below copy and paste is it was a reply to a comment from an ATAINZ member about his problems now trying to request client bank statements from their bank. Mark … More Tales of Insanity from NZs Anti-Money Laundering Legislation. I.