Location: The Internationale

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The United Socialist States of Obrien is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its anti-smoking policies. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 466 million enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Defence, and Social Welfare. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Proficere. The average income tax rate is 91%, and even higher for the wealthy. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Arms Manufacturing.

Traveller camps regularly block five-lane superhighways, retirement homes are often fitted with luxurious suites, libraries are now installed with jacuzzis and mini-bars, and Saturday morning cartoons feature full frontal nudity. Crime is totally unknown. Obrien's national animal is the Wolf, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the Marx.

Obrien is ranked 7th in The Internationale and 6,940th in the world for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 39 on the Gilded Widget Scale.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and