© viral.buzzYou can be arrested for paying with cash.
The bill prohibits cash transactions by "second-hand dealers," defined to include garage sales, flea markets, resellers of specialty items, and even non-profit resellers like Goodwill. Curiously, it specifically exempts pawnbrokers from the ban. But of course, pawn shops - and not rented stalls at local church flea markets - are notorious as places that criminals frequent to convert stolen goods into quick cash. So what gives?
Are the authors of the bill and those who voted for it ignoramuses - or are they deliberately obscuring the real purpose of the bill? The answer is clear once we examine the other provisions of the bill. The bill goes far beyond banning cash transactions.
As lawyer Thad Ackel notes, the bill requires second-hand dealers to turn over a valuable business asset, namely, their business' proprietary client information. For every transaction, a second-hand dealer must obtain the seller's personal information such as their name, address, driver's license number, and the license plate number of the vehicle in which the goods were delivered.
They must also make a detailed description of the item(s) purchased and submit this with the personal identification information of every transaction to the local policing authorities through electronic daily reports.
If a seller cannot or refuses to produce to the second-hand dealer any of the required forms of identification, the second-hand dealer is prohibited from completing the transaction.
So the aim of the bill is not to aid law enforcement in apprehending criminals, none of whom would be ever stupid enough to turn over such information. The real intent is to feed government's insatiable hunger for tax revenues by completely stripping law-abiding citizens of financial privacy in second-hand transactions, every detail of which is fed directly into police files.
This troubling development in Louisiana parallels the intensification of the war on cash by the Federal government. Last month, it was reported that the U.S. Justice Department ordered bank employees to snitch to the cops on customers who withdrew $5,000 or more. In a speech, assistant attorney general Leslie Caldwell exhorted banks to "alert law enforcement authorities about the problem" so that police can "seize the funds" or at least "initiate an investigation."
Comment: Cash - maybe the last bastion of anonymity! What better way to shut down an economy, than to make new and invasive rules about how to accomplish a transaction, be worried about whether you are being monitored privately or on a national/international scale, and tracked as to what you purchase. (This bill was passed in 2011!) What is even worse is the $5000 bank withdrawal-triggers that allow the police to seize your funds and place you under investigation. Tellers have become the inquisitors. And, the smartphone personal tracking device and payment scheme (phasing out/outlawing cash/check/credit card sales thanks to POTUS) become mandatory in October 2015. Don't phone home.
Over in France, Finance Minister Michel Sapin hailed the introduction of measures set to come into force in September which will restrict French citizens from making cash payments over 1,000 euros. The new regulations, introduced in the name of fighting terrorism, will also see cash deposits of over 10,000 euros during a single month reported to anti-fraud authorities. Meanwhile, in the UK, HSBC is now interrogating its account holders on how they earn and spend their money as well as restricting large cash withdrawals for customers from £5000 upwards. Back in America, purchasing Amtrak train tickets with cash is being treated as a suspicious activity as part of a number of behaviors that are "indicative of criminal activity".
See also:
Department of Justice wants banks to call the police on anyone who withdraws more than $5,000
Feds urge banks to call the cops on customers who withdraw $5000 or more