<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FWAAA:
True, but until recently, the USA didn't employ 49,000 agents to look at travelers' cash at the airport checkpoints. Customs had their look, but only when someone crossed the border.</font>
No, previously they were private employees looking for cash. Like I said two posts above yours, the DEA was (and probably still is) paying screeners money for tips on drugs or drug money. Traveling with a lot of cash has always been a major concern for professional gamblers who don't want it confiscated without cause by the DEA.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Cygnus X-1:
I`ll just add, that even withdrawing $10,000+ from a bank account in the US has to be declared. This, apparently, is putting Rush Limbaugh (an ...) in dire straits as he apparently withdrew $9900+ numerous times, loopholing that limit for his Oxycontin</font>
This is called "structuring" and that's also illegal.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Personally, I think $20,000 should be a new limit, like Japanese have. Especially as the economy expands. We also need $1000.00 bills again and higher incomes, naturally. We had 500 and 1000 before, so why not now. </font>
If anything, after 9/11, the government has been wanting to lower the limit and increase the scrutiny. I heard rumors that it told casinos (which are subject to basically the same rules as banks) to being suspicious of anything over $5000.
As for the larger denominations, I don't see that much need. Maybe a $500 or $1000, but even then, people don't use that much cash anymore, and the US government is increasingly interested in cracking down on it.
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