U.S. Government October 18th, 2021 Bankruptcy

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Overview

The U.S. Government October 18th, 2021 Bankruptcy refers to the event in late September 2021 when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke before Congress warning of an impending national debt limit. The news headline of "U.S. Government Will Run out Of Money By October 18" broke on Twitter on September 28th, although people were talking about the impending crisis earlier in the month on platforms like TikTok. Users began posting memes across all platforms in the days following September 28th, mostly poking fun at the government's current budget that leans heavily on funding its national defense.

Background

CNN^[1] was the first news outlet to release news about the October 18th, 2021, bankruptcy. On September 28th, the news outlet published an article titled, "U.S. Government Will Run out Of Money by October 18, Treasury Secretary Says." The article outlined how the government needed to take extraordinary measures by October 18th by passing legislation to raise the debt ceiling. If Congress failed to act, the consequences would likely be "catastrophic, tanking markets and the economy, and delaying payments to millions of Americans." Senate Republicans had reportedly blocked a bill that would have suspended the debt limit the day before on September 27th, 2021.^[2]

Developments

Although the news broke on Twitter in late September 2021, three weeks earlier, TikToker^[8] @riskyenterprise uploaded a video talking about the impending mid-October crisis. On September 9th, 2021, he uploaded a video (shown below) talking about how the government would be out of money in October and received roughly 5.2 million plays and 520,000 likes over the course of three weeks.

The News Breaks on Twitter

On September 28th, 2021, shortly after the article was published on CNN's website, CNN shared the article via a tweet^[3] (shown below), which led with the headline, "US Government Will Run out Of Money by October 18." The tweet received roughly 25,700 likes and 47,500 quote tweets in less than 24 hours.

After the CNN tweet, Twitter users began posting memes about the crisis in the form of quote tweets and replies. For example, Twitter user @thebennatan resurfaced an old Dril tweet, re-editing it to highlight the absurdity of the United States' $1.3 trillion dollar defense budget. The tweet^[4] (shown below) received roughly 31,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Other Twitter users began posting memes about the event associating it with memes about the Netflix show Squid Game. For example, Twiter user @kysccalamity tweeted on September 28th, 2021, with a screencap from Squid Game, captioning it, "i know how they can pay off their debt." The tweet^[5] (shown below) received roughly 13,500 likes in less than 24 hours.

Twitter users also began using the catchphrases "get your money up"^[6] and "stop pocket watching."^[7] Users related the event to the stimulus checks given out during the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

Screenshots of tweets began surfacing on Instagram starting on September 28th as well. For example, Instagram^[10] meme account @yourlordandsaviorlesionjesus posted a screenshot on September 29th of a quote tweet from Twitter account @blottso.^[9] The post (shown below) received roughly 12,200 likes in less than 24 hours.

The CNN article was also shared in the subreddit /r/news^[11] on September 28th, 2021. The post received roughly 33,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours.