Here is a cheerful report about our Saudi "allies":
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/05/news...gas/index.html
Apparently 90% (!!) of their population works for the government. Yikes.
The huge drop in oil prices is forcing a day of reckoning on them. They may even have to instituted income taxes and sales taxes (Horrors!).
I love this quote:
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"The Saudis have used their economic power to buy off their population," says Jordan, who is currently serving as diplomat in residence at Southern Methodist University. He predicts Saudi Arabia may even have to start collecting an income tax or sales tax.
"Part of the leverage the regime has had on their people is that
they don't impose taxes and therefore people don't expect representation," Jordan says. "But once they pay taxes, you're likely to see an increase in political unrest."
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Maybe, just maybe, when the average Saudi is forced to pay taxes, they will question how much money is being given to mosques and clerics and to fund Islamic fundamentalism around the world.
I can't wait for these fuckers to go broke.
I don't care if they have a violent revolution. We can ramp up our own fracking production - we were supposed to be a net exporter in the next few years anyhow (before the price drop). The faster it happens the better.
If jihadists take over Saudi Arabia and start exporting terrorism, they will finally have some fixed assets that they can lose. When we blow up their rigs and mine their harbors, they will be strangled for money and will have to figure out how to run a real economy on something other than Quran verses.
Starvation will focus their minds.