The Dictatorship of Howell is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its anti-smoking policies, punitive income tax rates, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 249 million Howellites are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. The average income tax rate is 64.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Howellian economy, worth 7.56 trillion Rolstoes a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Cheese Exports industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Woodchip Exports. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 30,347 Rolstoes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Community theaters are known for their bawdy renditions of 'Springtime for Leader', it is often said that only Leader could bring down Dàguó, telling someone to 'break a leg' is considered a criminal inducement to self harm, and big game hunters travel to Howell to try their hand at shark-shooting. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Howell's national animal is the Gila monster, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Howell is ranked 192,046^th in the world and 2,416^th in the West Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring zero on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.