Video: Government wastes billions chasing after money launderers.
Below is a fascinating video on a subject rarely discussed. Dan Mitchell is on point as always presenting another government paradigm that we have so frequently examined. This paradigm suggests that most of the time our government responds to a so-called crisis, implements benevolent and far reaching regulations and end up hurting people unintentionally while failing to solve the crisis.
In lessons from Shays' Rebellion we saw how radically and quickly a government can jump to a conclusion based on perceived threats or failing to understand the source of the problem.
Stopping criminals from laundering money and using far reaching regulations is just such an example. However there is a great cost to pay for such benevolence.
On top of the tens of billions extracted from the banks by the FDIC, the banks are also burdened with filing millions of reports on "suspicious" activities that some have estimated cost the banking industry up to 10 billion dollars! These costs of course are always translated on to the consumer. Yet people like Bernie Madoff-withyourmoney enjoyed a life of wealth and prosperity and the 9/11 jihadists operated freely. Even if we were to find examples of these draconian rules working, we can probably find ten examples where they fail and cause unnecessary hardship for everyone. These hardships are not only financially burdensome, but often infringe upon people's privacy as innocent consumers become the subject of invasive government scrutiny.
In lessons from Shays' Rebellion we saw how radically and quickly a government can jump to a conclusion based on perceived threats or failing to understand the source of the problem.
Stopping criminals from laundering money and using far reaching regulations is just such an example. However there is a great cost to pay for such benevolence.
On top of the tens of billions extracted from the banks by the FDIC, the banks are also burdened with filing millions of reports on "suspicious" activities that some have estimated cost the banking industry up to 10 billion dollars! These costs of course are always translated on to the consumer. Yet people like Bernie Madoff-withyourmoney enjoyed a life of wealth and prosperity and the 9/11 jihadists operated freely. Even if we were to find examples of these draconian rules working, we can probably find ten examples where they fail and cause unnecessary hardship for everyone. These hardships are not only financially burdensome, but often infringe upon people's privacy as innocent consumers become the subject of invasive government scrutiny.
This is just another example of government waste and government intervention quietly failing, quietly siphoning billions of dollars from private hands while transferring the wealth to bureaucrats. Thank you to Dan Mitchell and CATO for raising this important issue.
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