Louisiana Bans Cash Transactions, or “How to Disenfranchise the People”
Here’s a perfect example of the gun control formula in action. The Louisiana legislature passed a law this year making it illegal for private parties to use U.S. currency when transactions involve used goods.
The rationale? State representative Rickey Hardy (D-44), who co-sponsored the bill, claimed it was “targeted at criminals who steal anything from copper to televisions, and sell them for a quick buck. Having a paper trail will make it easier for law enforcement.”
Point 1: Sell big government under the guise of protecting us from criminals.
Point 2: “Paper trail” means registration. Registration precedes confiscation.
Hardy may be a Democrat, but the bill was co-sponsored by 6 Democrats and 9 Republicans. The bill passed both houses with only one dissenting vote, and was signed by Republican Bobby Jindal.
Point 3: Republicans support bigger government when it’s for something they want. Bigger government means less power vested in the People. Period.
“We’re gonna lose a lot of business,” says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand items.
“We don’t want this cash transaction to be taken away from us. It’s an everyday transaction,” Guidry explains.
Substitute the word “gun” for “cash transaction” and you end up with:
Point 4: The “unintended” (likely intended) consequence is that law-abiding people are punished, while criminals–prone to ignoring laws in the first place–continue doing business.
Point 5: This law creates more legal precedent for prostiticians in Louisiana and other states to justify and pass similar laws that do nothing but disenfranchise the law-abiding.
Point 6: Laws like this create a whole new criminal class with the stroke of a pen, creating a need for additional law enforcement and incarceration resources, producing a self-fulfilling need for more government employees.
Contact your reps today, just to say hello, like.
What about that bit on paper money that says “Good for all debs, public and private”? Is Louisiana trying to trump Federal law?
AAcckk. “debts,” not “debs.” (let the wisecracks begin)
I smell a (several?) imminent court challenges to this on a sound constitutional basis. Didn’t anyone tell those yahoos this was not only a stupid idea, but unconstitutional? Who voted these people into office, anyway?
Thad Ackel, Jr. posted this on a blog elsewhere: The law goes further to require secondhand dealers to turn over a valuable business asset, namely, their business’ proprietary client information. For every transaction a secondhand 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.
Now imagine that happening at every consignment and Goodwill shop. Sure, that’ll work.
Next, they’ll need the mark of the beast to buy and sell…
I am dissappointed in Jindal. I cannot believe an sane person would pass this law. Hello big brother.
What about the poor? (I am sounding like a liberal!) Many do not have bank accounts and shop at thrift shops. I don’t believe in massive handouts but requiring people to have a bank account is pretty much the same as the individual mandate.
In all honest I would sell new “tickets” for cash, then trade the tickets in for the item.
That is the thing with laws like this. Someone out there will get around them, and it makes ordinary citizens walk in a grey area for no reason.
“I am sounding like a liberal!”
No, don’t besmirch yourself. If you truly examine what types of legislation modern liberals support, you would find that the outcomes of their laws punish those least able to fight back: law-abiding, fixed income, workers, minorities, etc.
Modern liberals are the true conservatives, in that they work to preserve feudalism, the predominant socio-economic system throughout history.
I’ve been saying for a long time that environmentalism is beyond conservative; it’s downright reactionary. They don’t want anything to change, and they don’t want human progress. Why are they so comfortable on the ‘left’?
I think I’d be more worried if, like, you know, they were in a competent police state that kept murderers in jail, rather than releasing them after 15 days. The whole mess moved to Houston after Katrina, and the criminals were seriously shocked to not have the door revolve.
It’s a horrible law, no doubt. But they can’t keep their criminals in jail, they can’t run schools, and their police department can’t really police. Seriously- their policemen make a little over $1,000/ month. The federal government has to step in every so often to kind of clean up a little. I think this is a way to make the competent parts of the state- that would be second-hand store owners- into the real police department.
My brother had to sell his house b/c he worked in the Gulf. After Katrina, he’d go out, and thieves would strip the metal off his house. It gets expensive. It was one of the only okay blocks of houses in that neighborhood, and thieves ruined it. So I can sse the frustration that boils up to create such a bad law.
You should be more worried. Those who promote the gun control formula prefer the easy prey: law-abiding citizens of insufficient means to fight back. Criminals, having more in common with prostiticians, will always get a pass. After all, if government starts treating criminals like criminals, bureaucrats will have to start looking at their own behavior.
It’s not that I’m not worried. It’s that I think the whole state apparatus is so incompetent that they couldn’t govern a portapotty at any OWS protest.
I worked in Louisiana. Every last single place I worked had books for auditors, and then they had their real business. The casinos might have been the most honest businesses in town. maybe.
I was being sarcastic about the police relying on the only competent businesses in town. Honestly, there are some crazy great second-hand clothing stores. Hollywood stars clean their closets and send the stuff to New Orleans. Uptown, the nice part of New Orleans- million dollar mansion row- has three that are near legendary.
I can’t see this flying farther than a court turkey shoot.
They weren’t so incompetent during Katrina. There were plenty of cops ready to brutalize elderly women.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taU9d26wT4
Much safer than confronting gang bangers. Who’s the government going to attack but law-abiding citizens who don’t resist because they believe police are there to protect them?
Everybody needs to read Castle Rock v. Gonzales.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-278.ZS.html
I suspect that the real motivation behind this is to try to capture more revenue from sales taxes. A lot of personal sales do transpire without the government getting its “share” of the money.
Follow the money.
Good call. Like I wrote, registration precedes confiscation. By banning cash transactions means the “paper trail” created by this legislation makes it easier for government to determine how much money you spent, making it easier to confiscate more of your hard-earned money for taxes, which go to pay the salaries of the people hired to regulate this new law. Meanwhile, criminals, who don’t care about laws, will still do cash-only transactions on the black market.
Oops, delete the first “by”.
Huh??? How in the world do you hold a garage sale this way? What do Goodwill and the Salvation Army do at their thrift stores?
This makes zero sense.
When I saw this story at Drudge yesterday I was gobsmacked. How could this POSSIBLY be a law? How can it be enforced? How can it be LEGAL?
Of coruse the answer is, “It can’t.”
It’s the invention of a whole new level of bureaucracy to deal with criminals who aren’t going to care about obeying the law anyway, and will find a way to circumvent it.
It’s also a money maneuver. Everyone has heard of the “shadow economy” of cash-only transactions that take place “off the books.” These are perfectly legal, but because they’re done in cash, it’s much easier for individuals and businesses to “hide” that income from the government. Hidden income means less paid in taxes, and we KNOW how the government feels about not getting its “fair share” of the people’s money.
LA conservatives and libertarians had better get on this FAST and get it repealed. Otherwise you can expect the bureaucrats to show up in droves at all of the following places and demand to see your “papers:”
- Garage, moving, and yard sales
- Flea markets
- Used book stores
- Thrift shops
- Secondhand clothing stores
- Pawn shops
- Music, video, and video game resellers (the entertainment industry HATES resellers)
- Auctions
And what about individuals who may use secondhand goods as part of their work? I’m thinking primarily of artists and professional crafters who may use scrap metal or other preused materials to make their product. Can I not spend $5 of ready cash to buy the cute drink coaster made from an old Van Halen CD because it’s “secondhand”? Do I have to put that on my credit card?
This is the stupidest law since that one in NY that makes it illegal for a donkey to sleep in your bathtub in Brooklyn.
And what about vending machines and kids who take lunch money to school. Are they going to have sting operations at the elementary schools?
Used goods. I really hope kids aren’t buying used candy bars out of vending machines.
Here is a perfect example of wasting tax payer dollars on a law which will be struck down as unconstitutional. It has not basis in reality and impact a great majority of law abiding people over a small percentage of criminals for which laws exist to punish them and anyone involved in the transaction. Again.. criminals will use cash when buying and selling used goods anyway.
So instead of dealing with real issues these people waste your money on laws that are unsupported, look good to a minority of people, not solve the problem anyway and eventually end up on the trash heap of stupid laws.
Our whole family is avid second hand shoppers, so every element of this story had me slamming my head against the wall. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!
Jindahl is going to regret this.
Knowing this is Louisiana did eBay pay off the legislature to basically shut down the Brick & Mortar 2nd hand goods store?
One of the characteristics of areas where the government starts taxing people beyond their means, is that a black market arises, and also a barter economy comes into being. Most of the Central Valley in California has a thriving combination of the two. I know of small businesses who have surrendered their business licenses and are operating totally under the table in my part of the country, and I know where cash under the table gets a discount at a number of still licensed businesses. The arrival of the bureaucrats to show up in droves at all of the following places and demand to see your “papers:” is likely to end up being a trigger point for something that they really do not want.
I am forwarding this article to several Jindal fans of my acquaintance.
Subotai Bahadur
I’ve been seeing more lazy readers/thinkers complaining that PJM goes after such gross violations only if the target is a liberal/Dem. Uh-huh.
Of course, such actions make Jindal and the GOP reps look like liberals, so maybe the complainers are right?
The bill was sponsored by clif richardson, a republican from Baton Rouge.
I love this state and the culture here, but my God, we take the prize for stupid legislators.
This is truly the worst law I’ve ever heard of. Time to start printing your own money if the LA doesn’t want you using theirs. I say lets go back to the gold standard. Can’t counterfeit or print as much as you need of that.
Who would have thought that exchanging money for goods or services would ever be anything but legal?
Stolen goods will always be transacted in cash, with or without the law. It’s illegal to steal, you know, and illegal to fence.
Who but the relatively poor will buy second hand stuffs when they have accumulated enough cash. They are not qualified for credit cards, and don’t have a checking account. Now they are criminalized for being poor.
Some folks are just so stupid it defies comprehension. Or, maybe that is so obnoxious and arrogant they believe themselves omnipotent.
It has to be only one of two things, and I find it incredible these bums could be this stupid. I guess they want to start a revolution earlier than later. If so, this is a sure fire way to begin a revolt.
and Jindal is a rising star in the conservative movement? Sigh…
Not any more.
I can only imagine Jindal was drugged when he signed this law.
All imaginable taxes must be collected. Next they will ban cash transactions at sidewalk lemonade stands. This is a prime example of what I fear in the so-called “FAIR tax” or any variety of a national sales tax.
It would also be a useful first step in forcing people into using credit/debit cards for everything. Cards of course can be more easily tracked and/or interdicted than cash, and authorities can add charges or assessments to accounts without your prior knowledge or agreement. Ultimately, it could make worthless the money you have hidden under the mattress. I used to laugh at the kooks who warned that the NOW was going to abolish all money like Karl Marx advocated. I have ceased laughing.
I thought federal law proclaims that “This note is legal tender for all debts public and private” – printed right on every dollar bill.
Some elements of the government have been wanting to abolish all non-electronic currency for years. That way all economic transactions are both track able and taxable.
One wonders if the real goal will simply be a “transfer tax” whenever any of the electronic money changes hands. How does that go about the Mark of the Beast? “…and that no one should be able to buy or sell save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of its name.”
Who would have thought that meant a government approved credit or debit card traceable back to your social security number?
That’s going to be costly.. not the law, reprinting all our currency.
Changing “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”
To:
** Except in LA where this note cannot be used for purchase or sales and second hand stores. And in any other situation where the law doesn’t allow cash transactions; in which case this bill may not be legal tender at all.
That is going to be some tiny tiny print.
Oh wait; I’ve got it… this plan is BRILLIANT!
I sue the Treasurer of the United States; whose signature is on every bill (and at least on a 5 and 20 right below the claim that cash is legal tender); as it now isn’t making US currency both false advertising and fraud.
And we’ve got someone’s signature claiming this statement is true; when in fact it isn’t… fraud if I’ve ever seen it.
Lets see, there is about 900 billion in circulation right now, as part of this fraud… what are the charges for a fraud case totaling 900 billion?
“Inciting revolution.”
We have a real problem here in La with copper thieves. That is what the law is sold to the public on, the premise that this will somehow put a stop to metal thievery. You are right on target Mr. Nemerov, this is the gun-control formula.
I buy lots of lead from the local scrap yard for casting. I pay cash. I dont want anyone knowing that I buy it or what I am using it for. I will continue paying cash, and the scrap yard guy will continue taking it. clif richardson can go sit on a sharp stick. I will be happy to help him pick one out.
The gun store where I often hang out has free coffee and lots of retired cops hanging out . Often the sheriff shows up and drinks coffee with us. Most of the transactions are in cash. They will continue to be. I picked up a winchester big bore 94 for $400 monday. I paid cash. I nearly had to wrestle the thing away from the sheriff cuz he wanted to buy it from me with cash ( he is an avid hog-hunter). This law will probably be ignored. When someone tries to implement it I am confident it will be struck down.
As for the metal stealing….that market has a bottleneck in it. The scrap yard. If the cops wanted to put a stop to it they can simply hang out there under cover. As many here have pointed out the motivation behind this law has nothing to do with stopping existing crime. It is an attempt by the notoriously corrupt La legislature to create a new class of criminal so that they can stuff more money in their pockets.
I think I will go cast for a while……or crank away on my Forster.
Art. I, Sec. 10 – No state shall make any Thing (capitalized) a tender for payment of debt except gold and silver coin…
Each Federal Reserve Note bears the inscription, “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.”
Lousisiana, home of illiterate idiots in the state legislature.
I am probably the one Louisiana citizen most familiar with this type of issue. On quite a few occasions, I have schooled many a government employee/elected official cash WILL be accepted.
As I’ve been told by them for decades, “it’s the law.” Well, that works both ways. NO ONE can refuse cash unless you have a prior contract specifying some other means of payment. The state does not have the authority to outlaw cash no more than they can ban the wearing of pink clothes.
Goverment, ya’ gotta love it.
HB 195 was signed in to law July 2011 by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal.
Let’s give credit where credit is due to Louisiana’s 9 REPUBLICAN (?) sponsor’s who worked tirelessly on the behalf of Louisiana citizens to get this done, along with 6 Democrats.
Here are the 9 Republican sponsors of HB 195 looking out for you, according to MYGOV365….
Alan Seabaugh Dist. 5
Clif Richardson Dist. 65
Dale Erdey Dist. 13
Franklin Foil Dist. 70
J. Rogers Pope Dist. 71
Kay Katz Dist. 16
Steve Pugh Dist. 73
Thomas Carmody Dist. 6
Tom Willmott Dist. 92
and last, but not least……..the paid lobbyists
Thanks for the article, it has brought the national spotlight to something that had slipped by.
Louisiana voters can now show their appreciation at the ballot box to the special “looking out for us” republicans who sponsored HB 195. You just gotta love these public servants!