German SPD Leader Faces Backlash After Claiming Migrants Burdening Welfare System Is A 'Right Wing Extremist' Lie

Via Remix News,

Labor Minister and Social Democratic Party (SPD) co-leader Bärbel Bas (SPD) says nobody is immigrating to Germany to take advantage of its social welfare system. However, she has received substantial pushback directed at her claim.

Bas’ comment came during a session of the Bundestag, when AfD MP René Springer asked Bas why she wasn’t cutting spending on immigration due to the current budget crisis, given the clear burden it is putting on social welfare, a situation that is making German taxpayers increasingly angry. 

“Immigration into the welfare state threatens social cohesion! The fact is: More and more immigrants are pushing into our social welfare system – and are bringing the system to its limits and to the brink of collapse,” CSU Member of Parliament Stephan Mayer told Bild on Tuesday, as quoted by Junge Freiheit.

Bas, in return, has called this notion a lie from “right-wing extremists.”

Her goal, like many proponents of mass immigration is to link it to eliminating Germany’s skilled worker shortage.

“We have a skilled worker shortage in this country, which many companies are addressing by saying, ‘We need everyone who is here in the country and can work.'”

Mayer, and many others before him, shot her down.

“Every statistic refutes her. The immigration into Germany’s social systems is verifiably documented and one of the main reasons why the Federal Republic is heading toward state bankruptcy,” Springer posted on X last week. 

Bärbel Bas hat ein weiteres Zitat für die Geschichtsbücher geliefert. Nach Norbert Blüms „die Rente ist sicher“, Kohls „blühende Landschaften“ im Osten, Merkels „Wir schaffen das“ zur Grenzöffnung und Scholz' „Doppel-Wumms“ zur energiepolitischen Irrfahrt setzt die… pic.twitter.com/7etME3lddg

— René Springer (@Rene_Springer) May 6, 2026

“There is less and less money for those in need because the wrong people, who have never paid into the system and never will, are being supported by us,” he told Bild. 

Remix News has reported extensively on migrant abuse of the German welfare system. In November 2024, data from the federal government revealed that 64 percent of those receiving benefits have a migration background, despite making up a much smaller share of the overall German population. The cost of providing this social welfare rose to €12.2 billion the previous year, but in total, Germany spent nearly €50 billion on immigrants and protecting its border in 2023.

And yet, in August 2025, Germany’s Federal Employment Agency is actively promoting the country’s “citizen’s benefit” (Bürgergeld) to young migrants, with one critic noting: “Germany is so generous that it not only explains to immigrants from abroad how to get a job, but also how to make ends meet in Germany without one.”

That same month, two SPD chiefs in the German state of Thuringia broke with their party, calling for most non-EU migrants — including asylum seekers and recognized refugees — to receive social benefits only as interest-free loans, repayable once they find work, in an effort to break reliance on the state.

Currently, there is very little incentive for many to find work. And even those under deportation orders are being supported at taxpayer’s expense. And this is, of course, ignoring the other issue with massive crime from the migrant community.

Bas, however, has, in turn, said Springer is simply ignorant of the facts.

“You’ve probably never heard of it, because you’re probably not out and about in the country, visiting companies,” she told him. 

Alice Weidel, the AfD parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, reacted to this with her own input:

“The SPD’s denial of reality is symptomatic of the federal government’s inability to act—a government that doesn’t want to change a thing. A political turnaround is only possible with the AfD!” she wrote on X. 

According to Günter Krings (CDU), deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, “there are too many people who come to us from other EU countries and only work a few hours a week, receiving social assistance for the rest of their time,” the MP told Bild, noting that the German social system is “a magnet for many EU foreigners.”

Former Bundestag member Joe Weingarten (SPD) described Bas’s statement as “a completely unrealistic assessment.” He added that she “is largely alone in this view, even within the SPD.” Weingarten also told The Pioneer, “Any responsible local politician could provide her with enough examples from their own city to prove the opposite.” 

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/15/2026 - 05:00

"Pushed Into Poverty": Somalia’s Currency Crisis Leaves Traders Holding Worthless Cash

For decades, Muse Omar Jama made a living swapping currencies in Mogadishu’s Bakara market, where customers once lined up to trade Somali shillings for dollars and mobile money. Now his office sits mostly silent, and the safes around him are stuffed with cash no one wants, according to The Guardian.

The problem began when traders in Somalia stopped accepting worn-out shilling notes, saying the bills were too damaged to use. The boycott quickly spread to shops, buses, and businesses across the country, wiping out the value of savings held in local currency. Jama describes the shock bluntly: “It’s like we went bankrupt overnight.”

He can no longer exchange the piles of shillings stacked in his office for US dollars, and many former customers leave empty-handed. “I have to turn them away because my safes, shelves and tables are already full of Somali shillings,” he says.

Photo: The Guardian

The Guardian writes that the crisis reflects Somalia’s long shift toward a dollar-based economy. The country hasn’t printed new banknotes since dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, when the central bank collapsed. Since then, US dollars, remittances sent through hawala networks, and mobile payments have increasingly replaced local currency.

The fallout has hit poor households hardest. Prices for essentials like food, medicine, and transport have risen sharply—one small bag of powdered milk reportedly doubled in price. Jama now walks five kilometers to work because buses no longer accept shillings.

Vegetable seller Asha Ali Ahmed says the change has also hurt small traders. Farmers in Afgoye now demand mobile payments, driving up produce costs in Mogadishu markets. With drought already devastating crops, many customers can no longer afford basic groceries.

According to the World Food Programme, about 6.5 million people in Somalia face severe hunger, while 2 million children under five are suffering acute malnutrition.

The federal government has declared refusing Somali shillings a crime, but many traders doubt it can enforce the order. Jama remains pessimistic: “Millions are going to suffer… More families will be pushed into poverty.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/15/2026 - 04:15

Britain Is Now Policing Thought Crime

Authored by Ciaran Kelly via DailySceptic.org,

If you want a snapshot of how far Britain has drifted from its liberal inheritance, consider the spectacle of a 78 year-old grandfather and retired pastor being warned by police that he must not preach from the Bible within a public area. His offence was not harassment, obstruction or intimidation. It was reciting and commentating on a verse many learned as children: “For God so loved the world…”

Clive Johnston’s alleged crime was breaching a ‘buffer zone’ around a hospital which houses a sexual health clinic where abortions are performed – despite the fact it was a Sunday afternoon when there were no scheduled abortions, and he made no reference whatsoever to abortion, nor motherhood, nor babies.

The state maintains he risked “influencing” anyone accessing the clinic in relation to abortion or anyone working there – a crime punishable by fine. He was prosecuted, and this week found guilty for doing so.

At this point, it is worth stating plainly: this is no longer about the cultural debate on abortion ethics.

It is about whether the state may decide which ideas are permissible in public space and which must be confined to the private sphere. In footage from the initial confrontation with police now circulating on X, the policeman literally tells Johnston his religious views should be expressed only in a “safe” place like a chaplaincy – not out on the street, where anyone passing by might hear.

Johnston’s case is the latest example in a pattern that has been building for years: the slow but unmistakable attempt to narrow the space in which Christians, in particular, are permitted to express their beliefs.

Take the school chaplain, Dr Bernard Randall, referred to Prevent for discussing Christian teaching during a school assembly. Or the numerous street preachers removed from public areas simply for speaking about Christ. Or the growing list of individuals questioned by police for nothing more than silent prayer within ‘buffer zones’ – cases in which no words were spoken, no signs displayed, no interactions initiated. The mere possibility of internal deviance in belief, it seems, is now sufficient to trigger official concern.

Abortion ‘buffer zones’ were introduced with a defensible aim: to protect women from harassment at a vulnerable moment. Few would quarrel with that objective (albeit one that was already adequately covered by pre-existing laws banning harassment). But like many well-intentioned measures, the law is being stretched beyond its original purpose. If “influence” can be inferred from the mere act of expressing Christian faith – irrespective of what is actually said, and whether it relates to abortion – then we are no longer policing conduct, but the hypothetical impact of ideas. To put it more bluntly, we are policing thought.

Once the elastic concept of “influence” becomes an offence, the implications are difficult to contain. If spoken words are suspect, what about the mere presence of someone with a certain belief? If preaching from the Bible is counted to be too influential, what about someone within the area wearing a Christian cross, or indeed a hijab? Could that deter a woman from an abortion because she knows of faith-based objections to abortion, and therefore be criminal? If influence is defined so subjectively, then almost any expression of belief becomes, in the eyes of someone, a potential offence.

The premise of the law banning “influence” rather than “coercion” or “harassment” is absurd. It suggests that we aren’t all influenced by one another on a daily basis. It isn’t immoral to change one’s mind on a topic – and indeed, it’s patronising to assume members of the public are so feeble-minded that to be in the presence of somebody with an alternative view would cause genuine harm.

Britain has developed a habit of elevating the avoidance of offence above the protection of liberty. From the proliferation of ‘non-crime hate incidents’ to the policing of speech on university campuses, the direction of travel has been unmistakable: fewer risks of discomfort at the cost of fewer freedoms.

Buffer zones are simply the latest and most disproportionate frontier. What is now being tested is not just the boundary of acceptable behaviour, but the boundary of acceptable belief. You need not share Clive Johnston’s theology to see the danger.

A country that tells its citizens their faith belongs only in designated “safe areas” is not protecting pluralism, but actively dismantling it.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/15/2026 - 03:30

How Global Economic Power Shifted In The Last 10 Years

The global economic order has shifted dramatically over the last decade, with countries reshuffling positions amid inflation shocks, geopolitical tensions, pandemic disruptions, and the rapid rise of AI-driven industries.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, compares the world’s 15 largest economies in 2016 and 2026 using IMF World Economic Outlook data, revealing which countries gained ground, which fell behind, and which surprised the most.

The U.S. remains the world’s largest economy at $32.4 trillion in 2026 forecasts, while China crossed the $20 trillion mark. India posted one of the fastest growth rates among major economies, while Japan became the only G20 economy to shrink over the decade.

The World’s Reordering of Major Economies

The period from 2016 to 2026 saw major reordering among the world’s top economies, with Mexico overtaking Spain, India overtaking France, and Russia leapfrogging both Brazil and Canada.

The table below lists the world’s 15 largest economies in both 2016 and 2026 based on their nominal GDP in billions of U.S. dollars.

One of the biggest shifts in the rankings came from India, whose economy expanded by 83% between 2016 and 2026. By the end of the period, India’s GDP had nearly caught up with both Japan and Germany.

Meanwhile, Germany overtook Japan to become the world’s third-largest economy, despite relatively modest growth compared to emerging markets.

Germany’s growth was modest compared to emerging markets like China, India, and Mexico, and was tempered in part by the economic slowdown it faced throughout the post-COVID era. However, Germany still grew faster than other major European Union economies like France (46%) and Italy (45%), though not Spain (68%).

The decade between 2016 and 2026 also saw the European Union lose its second-largest member economy, the United Kingdom, in 2020. The UK grew its GDP by 57% to reach $4.3 trillion by 2026.

Another Lost Decade for Japan

Every major world economy expanded over the last decade, with one notable exception. Japan’s GDP shrank from $5.1 trillion in 2016 to $4.4 trillion in 2026, reflecting a 14% contraction.

Following decades of rapid economic expansion in the late 20th century, Japan’s economy has struggled since the 1990s. The government has accumulated a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 200%, while major exporters in the auto and tech sectors have faced rising competition and trade tensions involving both the U.S. and China.

Perhaps Japan’s most pressing challenge is its demographic crisis. The country’s population was roughly 5 million larger in 2016 than in 2026, reflecting a decades-long fertility decline that threatens future growth prospects.

Russia’s Economic Expansion

Russia’s economy more than doubled in size between 2016 and 2026, growing by 107% to reach $2.7 trillion based on IMF forecasts. This expansion came after the Russian financial crisis of 2014–2016, which was driven largely by falling oil prices.

Russia’s growth, fueled heavily by oil and gas exports, came despite sanctions imposed after the country’s occupation of Crimea in 2014 and full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Even as the U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions, Russian energy exports were rerouted toward buyers in China and India, albeit at discounted prices.

How do these countries and economic powers compare with individual U.S. states? Find out with The 50 Largest Economies, Including U.S. States on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/15/2026 - 02:45