Mariano Rajoy was Spain's prime minister from 2011 to 2018, leading the Partido Popular government. Early in his term his cabinet approved unpopular tax increases, and recordings of him defending the measures became widely quoted in Spanish media. The phrase stuck as shorthand for bad economic news, and the short audio clip now circulates on meme pages, WhatsApp chains and TikTok edits in Spain. Creators replay it whenever inflation, new fees or rising prices make headlines, using Rajoy's resigned tone as the punchline for everyday costs going up.