I was out of the country last week and when I returned, I had to go through customs to get back in. That is a big hassle and a lot of waiting in line. Of course, there are signs all over with warnings and threats about being fined and jailed. Believe me, getting into a foreign country was much easier than getting back in even with my passport.

One sign in particular disturbed me. It basically said that if you were carrying more than $10,000 in cash or cash equivalents, you had to declare it or they could take your money and throw you in jail.

Now in 2014, civil asset forfeitures totaled 4.5 billion dollars while reported burglaries only totaled 3.5 billion dollars. In case you don’t know, civil asset forfeiture is when a person wearing a badge and a gun just takes your money or other property, often without charging you with a crime.

So this sign is telling me that if I am carrying $12,000 of my own money, I have to report it to the biggest thief in the country or I am the criminal. Does something seem a little messed up with this picture?

There are many legal reasons for people to carry large amounts of cash. They might be in the diamond buying business, they might be wanting to pay cash for a car or other asset, or they might just like to carry large amounts of cash for other personal reasons.

You can’t tell me this is a free country anymore when you can become a criminal just by carrying the money around that you earned and is rightfully yours. I think the real thieves have taken over and we are just here for them to steal from.

This is the kind of behavior you can expect from a bankrupt government. Things will continue to deteriorate until people look around and decide they can’t live here anymore. By then it will probably be too late for most of them and they won’t be able to get out.