Location: the West Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Most Serene Republic of La Arcata is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Fearless Leader with a fair hand, and renowned for its keen interest in outer space. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 4.92 billion are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whoever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of La Arcata City. The average income tax rate is 93%, and even higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is dominated by the Book Publishing industry.

Every product goes through extensive safety-testing by the government, postmen have been arrested in job lots for selling junk mail as home insulation, people can often be seen driving to work in war-surplus tanks, and political parties are banned from advertising and receiving private donations. Crime is totally unknown. La Arcata's national animal is the Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the dollar.

La Arcata is ranked 4,126th in the West Pacific and 97,565th in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -6 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and