The United Socialist States of The Socialist Peoples Republic of Merka is a gargantuan, genial nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls, smutty television, and compulsory military service. The compassionate, cheerful population of 17.583 billion Merkans enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Washington DC. The average income tax rate is 99.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Merkan economy, worth a remarkable 3,095 trillion Dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is an impressive 176,049 Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A passport is literally priceless, military equipment is being auctioned off to extend comatose centenarians' lives, forty-year-old men are asked for their ID before watching the latest pony cartoon movies, and stranded mountaineers can watch livestreamed footage of their rescues. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Socialist Peoples Republic of Merka's national animal is the Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

The Socialist Peoples Republic of Merka is ranked 290,688^th in the world and 4,141^st in the Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -32.2 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.