While Americans slept, government has been drastically increasing its numbers of “asset forfeitures” against innocent Americans (who are not charged with any offense). U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion between 1989 and 2010. And the numbers grew rapidly over that period. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually.
Analysis by Armstrong Economics reveals that in 2014 the Justice Department seized $4.5 billion from Americans. (This is greater than the annual budget of the State of Montana.)
According to the FBI, the total amount of goods stolen in (nongovernment) burglaries in 2014 was $3.9 billion. This means that the police are now taking more assets than the criminals.
