Why is transporting more than $10,000 cash illegal?

[gipper]

Civil asset forfeitures are finally starting to get some needed attention. They have been grossly abused for far too long. Montana and New Mexico have recently made it illegal for police to seize assets without a criminal conviction first.

Agreed.

Back in the mid-90s a tenant of mine was arrested at my house for a small amount of marijuana. The tenant ran into my house trying to flee the cops. The cops posted a large bright red sticker on the house essentially stating it was a drug house and proclaiming they would confiscate the house under asset forfeiture laws then in place. They never informed me of their action, but luckily I would regularly drive by my rentals to check on them. I contacted the city police department and after much BS, got it cleared up. Amazingly they treated me like a criminal because I failed to know about my tenant's drug use. I guess a landlord is supposed to be all knowing.

Some years later Gov. Granholm changed the law preventing cops from taking property this way...one of the few good things she ever did.

 

[Wildman]

Why in the world would someone want to carry 10,000 dollars in cash instead of using a bank card?

would you believe me if i told you and all others that CASH $$$$$ can not be "hacked" as your bank card can be ?

 

[Clementine]

For the most part, looks like both sides agree on this issue. It doesn't matter why some people have a lot of cash. It happens and it's no one's business but the individual. It's wrong to assume things and wrong to steal money from people just because you have authority and an oppressive law allowing you to rob anyone you want.

It is a complete violation of rights for anyone to have their money and property seized without even being charged with a crime. No investigation takes place. The police act as judge and jury on the spot and go straight to the punishment phase, which is confiscating whatever assets the police can get their hands on. If the police truly believed that a person had a lot of cash because they were a drug dealer, why would they just take the money and let them go?

When a person used to hand police money and drive away without being charged, it was called bribery.

 

[SwimExpert]

Why would anyone want to carry that much in cash?

Perhaps they are professional poker players, on their way to the WSOP. Does it really matter why? Kinda like asking "why would anyone want to carry a gun?"

In any event probably had to do with the mob

That's what the police want you to think.

 

[paulitician]

Because Big Brother says so. It was originally intended to hunt drug dealers down. But as usual, Big Brother has abused his power and turned it into something else. It's all about control and theft. Now all Americans are considered guilty till proven innocent. Aren't Police States fun?

 

[SwimExpert]

Why in the world would someone want to carry 10,000 dollars in cash instead of using a bank card? Unless it's dirty money or for some ill purpose.

Maybe someone doesn't want to use a bank. The question "why would they want to" is irrelevant. The question should be "why can't people do as they wish with their own money?"

 

[pismoe]

excellent reply or bit of advice ScreamingEagle . Yep , a bit of cash on hand is always a good thing .

 

[paulitician]

Remember folks, Big Brother is not your friend. He doesn't exist to help you out. He exists to control you and steal from you. For some reason, most Americans truly believe Big Brother is their friend. It's so bizarre. Maybe one day they'll figure it out.

 

[paulitician]

Just another Government abuse of power. In the name of 'Catching the Bad Guy', Government has declared all Americans guilty till proven innocent. These laws shouldn't have been passed in the first place. They're allowed to pass only because Citizens have been sufficiently frightened enough to go along. That's how you get awful abuses like the Patriot Act, NDAA, and this. It's all about fear and control.

 

[sealybobo]

This is sort of a two part question, why is transporting legal US tender illegal, or if not, require some sort of approval? Secondly, who sets the number at $10k? I remember that being the number as a kid 20 years ago from movies, but $10k 20 years ago is worth $16k now... it's not a terribly large amount of money any more.
Where did we get such a strange restriction?

I agree. Why can't I save a million dollars under my mattress? Are we really free? If all you are allowed to have is $10K walking around money, you aren't really free.

 

[Muhammed]

It is not illegal to "transport" more than $10,000 in cash. The law is that cash transactions greater than $10,000 must be reported to the federal government by the bank.

But police can and do seize large amounts of cash via civil forfeiture. If you happen to get pulled over with a large amount of cash they'll assume (or pretend) it's drug related.

Not entirely true. Holding large amounts of cash is prima facie evidence of either drug dealing or tax evasion.

Bullshit.

Government confiscation of a persons property without due process is a clear violation of the 4th amendment.

By your reasoning, driving a car worth $10,001 is evidence of a crime.

Fucking totaritarian PoS.

 

[pismoe]

I like when people / anyone would ask WHY a person would want to carry large amounts of money . Standard reply by me is that , hey , its none of your business . Course that very common sense reply and type of thinking is being lost on many people , especially younger people in todays America . I think the concept of being private and minding ones own business has been bred out of people by todays touchy , feely society . And , I think that its a bad thing !!

 

[pismoe]

course if I told that 'none of your business' to police , which I would do , well confiscation would probably happen . Man , this country has really changed for the worse .

 

[SwimExpert]

I think the concept of being private and minding ones own business has been bred out of people by todays touchy , feely society . And , I think that its a bad thing !!

I partially agree. I think it's the fact that many young people have grown up in a digitized information/Patriot Act era where everything is discoverable, reconstructable, and where privacy is virtually non existent. It's all they've ever known. They've never truly experienced privacy, and as a result they've never learned how to appreciate it as something owed respect.

 

[Muhammed]

Why in the world would someone want to carry 10,000 dollars in cash instead of using a bank card? Unless it's dirty money or for some ill purpose.

Perhaps they don't trust banks. Or simply hate banks.

 

[pismoe]

And then , there is another thing that these / many of these young mush heads grew up watching . Shows like 'jerry springer' etc , montel Williams , doctor phil and others where dummies get in front of an audience and tell EVERYTHING to howls of laughter of other dummies in the audience . The disgusting shows I'm talking about have probably affected the 40 year old parents and their mush head kids SwimExpert !! When I was growing up the common phrase was , mind your own business !!

 

[pismoe]

another off topic thought , kinda related to minding ones own business . When I was growing up the saying was 'mind your own business' and one of the reasons , explanations by ww2 parents was that 'Loose Lips Sink Ships' which simply meant , keep your mouth Shut !!------------------------- NOWADAYS the newest thought or RULE by government is , 'If you see something say something' . Like I said , kinda off topic thought !!