The Democratic Repiblic of Podzol
The Democratic Republic of Podzol is a huge, devout nation, renowned for its complete lack of public education. The compassionate population of 251 million Podzolians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.
The small, socially-minded government devotes most of its attentions to Law & Order, with areas such as Social Welfare and Education receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 22%, but much higher for the wealthy. A healthy private sector is led by the Pizza Delivery, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Retail industries.
Many parents are becoming frustrated with their children's choices in spouses, frequent fliers are obliged to submit to invasive security procedures by government security, public footpaths are being slowly eroded by the burgeoning number of ramblers, and the rich are forced to sell their cars to pay for more police to prevent their cars from being stolen. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is a problem. Podzol's national animal is the Chicken, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Podro.