crude

Thus far, the Saudi royal family has maintained its highly oppressive form of government by pacifying its people with an extensive welfare state funded by oil money. But low oil prices brought about by hydraulic fracturing in the United States are forcing the monarchy to give the Saudi people more freedom in order to remain in power.

Fiscal conservatives had mixed emotions, to say the least, about the $1.6 trillion omnibus budget bill that was corralled through Congress by Republicans and Democrats alike. Among the few bright spots of this pork-laden spending package was a provision to lift the crude oil export ban which has been in effect since the Carter administration.