The Grumpy Retired Man of Merlovich is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Ali MacKillop with an even hand, and renowned for its compulsory military service, ubiquitous missile silos, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 5.798 billion Merlovichans 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.

The large, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Melbourne. The average income tax rate is 81.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Merlovichian economy, worth 866 trillion Merlovichan Dollars a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 149,451 Merlovichan Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Returning vacationers often find that their property is now a construction site, the aims of top-secret Merlovichian science projects revolve around designing the perfect robot woman, group hugs break out during floor votes, and war vets look after war animals. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Merlovich's national animal is the Kangaroo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is No Official Religion.

Merlovich is ranked 16,777^th in the world and 376^th in The East Pacific for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 22,387.08 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.