Spotlight on:

“Stepping Forward For You”

The Hippopotamus Sized Kingdom of Old Ogastein is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 7.761 billion have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Social Welfare, and Education. The average income tax rate is 100%. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

Citizens are regularly found digging for treasure in their gardens, the nation is ravaged by daily union strikes, major cities shut down as their local sports team takes to the field every day, and libraries are now installed with jacuzzis and mini-bars. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Old Ogastein's national animal is the great horned owl, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the opal.

Old Ogastein is ranked 53rd in the region and 11,722nd in the world for Highest Unemployment Rates.