The People's Republic of Botto is a mid-sized, genial nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 50 million Bottoans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 72.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Bottoan economy, worth 1.09 trillion florins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Basket Weaving, and Soda Sales. Average income is 21,739 florins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Lovesick people are told 'it's not them, it's you', emergency vehicles have built-in nudge bars to give uncooperative drivers a "gentle" push, Super Barry Brothers is the most popular video game in the nation, and teenagers performing appendectomies on their friends has become a popular schoolyard prank. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Botto's national animal is the porpoise, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Botto is ranked 204,290^th in the world and 420^th in The Leftist Assembly for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -1.61 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.