The Ghost of Xmas Past is a gargantuan, efficient nation, remarkable for its frequent executions, compulsory military service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, humorless, devout population of 35.662 billion Xmas Pastians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and look forward to their next free and open election, to be held on an as-yet unannounced date.

The enormous, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 56.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Xmas Pastian economy, worth a remarkable 2,226 trillion hollies a year, is led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Cheese Exports, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 62,419 hollies, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Military strategists are questioning the wisdom of subsidizing the economies of sworn enemies, every workday begins with group therapy, the government is spending millions on alternative clean-burning fuels, and nothing is beneath the government after it has extracted all the oil. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Xmas Past's national animal is the ivy, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Xmas Past is ranked 73,813^th in the world and 4^th in The Kingdom of Burgundy for Most Developed, scoring 69.21 on the Human Development Index.