Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 200 posts

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#11

Post by zamadatix »

dmitrygr wrote: post #6
actually_a_dog wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the US government actually wanted to (mostly) eliminate cash, they could just stop printing currency, and wait for what's in circulation to wear out. That would take about 23 years [0]. As it is, though, only about 8% of all USD exists in physical form [1], anyway, making the USD largely a digital currency already. --- [0]: https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/how-long-is-the-life-spa... [1]: https://money.howstuff…

That would be reported by the news and people would care. Whereas here we get this reaction: "they seized his money and say he is suspected of being a drug dealer, well then i have nothing to worry about - i am not a drug dealer."

I think the most common reaction is going to be "this guy carried my mortgage worth in cash on his person to the airport, I don't think I'm going to have that problem".

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#13

Post by lotsofpulp »

actually_a_dog wrote: post #8
dmitrygr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be reported by the news and people would care. Whereas here we get this reaction: "they seized his money and say he is suspected of being a drug dealer, well then i have nothing to worry about - i am not a drug dealer."

Eh, people would care for about 5 minutes, just like everything else. Remember when basically every American adult with a credit history had their entire credit files stolen? How many people do you hear talking about that now?

That is materially different than having your cash stolen from you by a seemingly random person at the airport. One results in a very small probability of it affecting you in any way, the other is someone stealing from you.

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#14

Post by SilasX »

bserge wrote: post #7

Can't get paid more than 1500 in cash in France. 2000 Pounds is "a lot of money" to exchange in the UK. The limits are suspiciously higher if you're well dressed and stepping out of an expensive car or moving millions. Tells you how pathetically poor the poor really are.

"And the brilliant part is, we have inflation as a matter of policy, and never update the threshold, so eventually the limit is meaningless and we can seize all cash!"

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#15

Post by zamadatix »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #13
actually_a_dog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, people would care for about 5 minutes, just like everything else. Remember when basically every American adult with a credit history had their entire credit files stolen? How many people do you hear talking about that now?

That is materially different than having your cash stolen from you by a seemingly random person at the airport. One results in a very small probability of it affecting you in any way, the other is someone stealing from you.

I think they are replying to the currency printing hypothetical not the 125,000-dollars-stolen-from-me hypothetical.

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#16

Post by lotsofpulp »

standardUser wrote: post #12

It's surreal to me how little political or public support there is for ending these kinds of egregious government overreaches.

Especially when one party seemingly champions “civil rights” or “the little guy”, and the other party champions “small government”. And yet a government employee stealing someone’s cash with no justification does not fall under any of those categories.

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#17

Post by lisper »

standardUser wrote: post #12

It's surreal to me how little political or public support there is for ending these kinds of egregious government overreaches.

That's because there is a widespread perception that if someone is engaging in a large scale cash transaction then there must be something shady going on even if there is no direct evidence of it (because legitimate business is transacted using checks or wire transfers). This is especially true if the person carrying the cash has dark skin. (Having a criminal record didn't help either in this case.)

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#18

Post by kragen »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #3
dmitrygr wrote: post #2

All governments want cashless economies. They make it easier to track money, collect taxes, keep an eyes on the populace, etc. India did it by invalidating all large-denomination bills. China did it by limiting ATM withdrawals. United States is doing it in the most American way possible. Literal highway robbery!

People, generally, want to be able to pay electronically too. It is very convenient.

My experience is the opposite. I can open up my wallet and take out a $1000 bill* in about three seconds; if change is due, that typically takes about another ten seconds. Paying with a credit card takes about a minute, four to ten times less convenient, except a significant percentage of the time the time "no hay sistema" and it just doesn't work, and sooner or later your credit card number gets sold to the Russian Mafia on a carding forum. I guess for super organized people checking your monthly statement to see if you've been signed up for a porn subscription you don't know about is not a big deal, but if you're super organized can't you just organize yourself to have the cash you need when you need it?

Also, do I really want Visa International to know what brand of constipation medicine I take and which anarchist magazines I subscribe to? (None, I swear!) Anything I buy on a credit card is something I can expect to have to explain to the police or the immigration authorities sooner or later, possibly after the next military coup, or maybe just because there was a protest nearby that turned violent and they'd like to know why I was in that neighborhood that day. Also, why do I need acetone? I'm not cooking meth, am I?

If you think this stuff will never affect you, well, nobody ever thinks it will affect them, until it does. Most people alive have lived through an invasion, a coup, or an episode of extreme governmental repression, and most people who haven't yet will.

Bitcoin is a nice alternative when it's applicable, but transaction costs are a bit high for buying a cigarette or a restaurant meal, and it's a headache when the confirmation time is 45 minutes instead of 10 minutes. Hopefully Lightning will fix this.

______

* Inflation is bad here, yo. $1000 is about US$6, but printing $2000 bills hasn't been approved yet.

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#19

Post by lotsofpulp »

zamadatix wrote: post #15
lotsofpulp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is materially different than having your cash stolen from you by a seemingly random person at the airport. One results in a very small probability of it affecting you in any way, the other is someone stealing from you.

I think they are replying to the currency printing hypothetical not the 125,000-dollars-stolen-from-me hypothetical.

I thought they were comparing people’s reactions to news about equifax’s data breach exposing people’s social and other identifying info to news about the government stealing from people via civil asset forfeiture.

Re: TSA’s “See cash, seize cash” policy

#20

Post by zepto »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #9
saurik wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is an unrelated thought: the world can slowly come to hardly ever use cash--or even achieve universal cashless-ness--without the continued existence of cash being actively discouraged by the government.

I agree, although I do not think civil asset forfeiture is specifically used to discourage the use of cash and incentivize people to go electronic, or at least it was not designed with that motive. Civil asset forfeiture is a power trip by the government that neither political party wants to touch, and it does a great job at reducing trust in the US's governing bodies. When I was a kid, I thought that kind of low lev…

Why does nobody want to touch it? That is what is a mystery to me.
Post reply on HN