The United Socialist States of Paracosma is a fledgling, genial nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The quiet, industrious population of 6 million Paracosmen 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 Education, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 64.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The basket case Paracosman economy, worth 55.6 billion dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient black market in Tourism, Basket Weaving, Uranium Mining, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 9,273 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, citizens are enjoying a recent large cut in taxes, intellectual snobbery has the cognoscenti sneering at anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the semiological drift of Umberto Eco's works, and a government program is underway to revitalize Paracosma's beaches. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Paracosma's national animal is the unicorn, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Paracosma is ranked 329,591^st in the world and 1,684^th in the Plains of Perdition for Highest Average Incomes, with 9,273.35 Standard Monetary Units.