The phrase became closely associated with Argentine politician Javier Milei during his 2023 presidential campaign, when he used 'no hay plata' to describe the country's strained public finances and to justify deep spending cuts. The blunt line was quickly clipped, shared and remixed across Spanish-language social media, where it moved beyond politics into everyday jokes about personal budgets. It remains popular because the wording is short, instantly recognisable and easy to apply to any situation where money runs out.