About

In This Economy is a catchphrase used to suggest that the state of the economy is too negative to take part in a given task. The phrase has been used throughout the 2000s and is often used ironically online as a meme to suggest that something unrelated to the economy can't be done because of the economy. The phrase became increasingly prominent online starting around 2008 during the Great Recession and continued to grow through the 2010s, also inspiring the phrasal template "X? In this economy?!" where "X" is a given subject painted as too risky to do "in this economy."

Origin

It is unclear who coined the phrase "in this economy," although the term saw significant growth starting in 2008 during the Great Recession,^[1] with several people posting the phrase "not in this economy" to Twitter, now X,^[2][3] that year. On March 10th, 2009, a now-deleted Redditor made a post to /r/askreddit^[4] titled, "Does anyone else hate the phrase 'in this economy?' I can't stand it, but I hear it everywhere!" garnering over 10 upvotes in 14 years. On April 11th, YouTuber^[5] TheFullGinsburg posted a compilation of pundits saying "in this economy," garnering over 30,300 views in the same span of time (shown below).

Spread

As early as December 2011, the phrasal template, "X? In this economy?" began to spread online. Some early examples were posted on December 29th, 2011 by X^[6] user @jvannoord and on December 25th, 2012 by X^[7] user @Kingtricomb, gaining no notable interactions in 12 years. The phrase "in this economy" was defined on Urban Dictionary^[8] on October 19th, 2011, garnering over 30 thumbs-ups in 12 years.

On November 24th, 2013, Bob's Burgers season 4 episode 5 featured the phrase in a joke painting it as a phrase that people can use in a conversation to seem adult.^[9] The scene was uploaded to YouTube^[10] on February 1st, 2014, garnering over 26,000 views in nine years (shown below).

On March 2nd, 2016, Tumblr^[10] user arcaneloquence made a text post titled, "Things you can say in response to literally anything, when you have nothing else to say," including the phrase in the list, garnering over 224,300 notes in seven years (shown below).

On September 13th, 2018, Tumblr^[11] user writingmyselfintoanearlygrave commented on another user's post giving a writing prompt, commenting, "In this economy? Thank them politely, pledge your loyalty, and join the mob," garnering over 201,000 notes in five years (shown below, left). On May 10th, 2019, iFunny^[12] user noon_Cyan posted a screenshot of a now-deleted Tumblr post reading, "Serotonin? In this economy?" garnering over 43,000 smiles in four years (shown below, right). The original post was likely made in 2018.^[17]

On April 10th, 2020, X^[13] user @IsabelSteckel posted, "live, laugh, AND love? in this economy???? are you insane," garnering around 200 likes in three years. On September 3rd, Facebook^[14] page Humans of Tumblr reposted the meme, garnering over 1,500 shares and 5,600 reactions in the same span of time.

On November 2nd, 2021, X^[15] user @idlyoccupied posted, "Monogamy? In this economy? It takes seven people to buy a house," garnering over 21,000 likes in two years (shown below). It was reposted by Facebook^[16] page Girls Meet The Internet on March 22nd, 2022, garnering over 31,000 shares and 150,000 reactions in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References