Conservative Republican Governor Bobby Jindal can't like why his state is in the news today; a Democrat state representative has spearheaded a successful effort to damage stores like...Goodwill?
District 44 Representative Rickey Hardy co-authored House bill 195, which says people who deal in 'second hand' goods can longer accept cash. Why? Apparently the government thinks the second-hand 'buying stolen goods' problem by Goodwill and pawn shops and other small businesses is so severe it needed to be legislated out. Oh, and those flea markets are commonly regarded as real hotbeds of crime too.
Says Hardy, who runs a small lawn care business, "they give a check or a cashiers money order, or electronic one of those three mechanisms is used", which means the state government has officially declared U.S. currency invalid. Want real fraud to go through the roof? Start requiring checks and, worse, cashier's checks. And isn't that unfair restriction of trade, since it is basically a subsidy for banks?
It doesn't matter, it is goofy enough it made Science 2.0. Nice work, Louisiana.
