The United States of Aarde is a huge, cultured nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, triple-decker prams, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, devout population of 256 million Aardens are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The large, moralistic, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 63.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Aarden economy, worth 8.64 trillion Dollars a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Automobile Manufacturing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 33,761 Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Immigrant herding has become a national pastime, Leader can cry on demand, Aardens incessantly needle their doctors for relief, and billions of Dollars are being poured into a space program. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aarde's national animal is the Bald Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Aarde is ranked 242,247^th in the world and 5,003^rd in The North Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -5.31 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.