The Panic of January 29, 2021

On January 29, 2021, the government of the Republic of the Pantheons came the closest it has ever come to collapse. The country is still reeling from the events of that day, and to pretend to know the full extent of the consequences of the Panic would be just that, playing pretend. The office of President Rhodes announced on that day that the government would be taking extraordinary steps to cut government spending and lower taxes for the population. The plan was to conduct a thorough review of which federal departments could be cut and which should keep their funding, it was a messaging error that brought this great Republic to its knees.

The investigation into just how this occurred is ongoing, but somewhere along the way, all departments were instructed to cut a full 50% of their operation effective immediately. Chaos quickly ensued. Every facet of the federal government was firing employees left and right, trying to get a hold of the situation while those who became unemployed panicked and the fear spread to those outside government. There was a very real feeling, perpetuated by internet falsehoods, that the government wasn't just pulling back half its funding, but that the government was in full collapse.

Predictably then, the rest of the country began to panic. Across the nation, markets collapsed as the economy faced the prospect of a huge government workforce becoming suddenly unemployed. The sense of government collapse sent the ordinary citizens of our land into anarchy. With the police force just as confused and in chaos as every other federal force, crime skyrocketed. The armed forces, also facing mass defunding and layoffs, became a mess of officials trying to ascertain the full extent of the danger. It became very apparent, very quickly, that the nation was no longer safe. Crime ran rampant and the military had very little power to defend the nation.

The GDP of the Republic fell nearly 5% in one day which equated to a $54 trillion drop, the worst drop in history. As it stands today, the economy has only recovered $29 trillion, eleven days later. The President ordered a halt on trading in the stock market and considered placing the nation under martial law to restore order. Thankfully, the President never quite got to that. The first order of business was to pass a massive spending bill through Congress to boost the collapsing economy. Soon after that, the President ordered the military to regain control of the nation from rioters and anarchists roaming the streets. Six days after the Panic, safety was restored.

Crime is still higher today than it ever was before the Panic, though it is not anywhere as high as it was on the day of. Most local governments have refused to collect taxes for the federal government for eleven days now, leading to an effective tax rate of around 5% nationwide. The President and the members of the Liberal Party in Congress are hoping to restart the government and ensure local governments that the federal government is fully operational. There is very little opposition from the Conservative Party, and even cooperation on this momentous task.

The economy will hurt for the foreseeable future. The government's legitimacy will be questioned for months, if not years to come. The nation will take a long time to heal from this. There is no telling what exactly the long-term effects of the Panic of January 29th will look like, but the nation needs to know that our leaders will live up to their oaths of office and defend it. The country has yet to hear directly from President Rhodes, nearly two weeks after the worst threat to our nation to date.