Spotlight on:

“All is well”

The Free Land of Bluebirdmatt is a huge, economically powerful nation, notable for its keen interest in outer space. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 272 million are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, moralistic, pro-business government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Healthcare. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 60%. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Arms Manufacturing.

Shanty towns are forming in the suburbs of major cities, schools have extensive counseling programs for troubled students, a survey of the nation's rivers and children has shown that pesticide levels are at an all-time regional high, and tax evaders are regularly visited by agents of the Bluebirdmatt Blood Tithe. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is relatively low, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Bluebirdmatt's national animal is the Dragon, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Waddles.

Bluebirdmatt is ranked 35th in the region and 34,088th in the world for Highest Unemployment Rates.