Going on vacation with the wife and kids? If you have over $750.00 in cash and are stopped it can be confiscated. The "Know Your Customer" demands that your bank keep an eye on your use of your account, if you decide to spend ten grand on new furniture, you have to explain yourself. Any large deposits or withdrawals must be accounted for.
If you do business with a company, and spend ten grand with their business over a 12 month period, you must be reported to the government by that business.
If traveling with a large amount of cash, stopped and searched, your car can also be confiscated. Knowing what a mess up Washington D.C. is, that no agency in that hell hole works as it should, how can you dare accuse someone of being paranoid for questioning the end effect of Home Land Security?
Easy. Anytime the Govt is given some new power in the war on terrorism we get a few people sounding the alarm about how we're turning into a police state.
The FBI is actually allowed to observe people in public places, or on public web sites like any other human being is allowed to...and we got people shrieking that it's the end of the world for God's sake.
As for your examples about the excesses of the DEA confisgating cars of people going on vacation because they are carrying money etc. etc. I don't know of a single person this has happened to.
Where are all the victims of these rampant police state tactics? If what you say is true they should be all over the news every night. But they're not.
And believe you me, if the new powers given the anti-terrorism forces result in anything even close to the police state scenarios you envision, we will definitely hear about it...we will have a parade of victims on TV and before some Congressional inquiry and lawsuits out the wahzoo.
Have no fear.