The Republic of Planet Oat is a huge, genial nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 723 million Planet Oatians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 42.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Planet Oatian economy, worth 23.1 trillion Oats a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient black market in Tourism, Information Technology, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Automobile Manufacturing. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 31,975 Oats, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Literature classes frequently go on field trips to rock concerts, government policies change at the drop of a rabbit, soldiers on first dates introduce themselves only by their ranks and serial numbers, and the Planet Oat Enquirer offers weekly cash prizes for 'most blasphemous song, story, or cartoon'. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Planet Oat's national animal is the Cow, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Planet Oat is ranked 253,710^th in the world and 60^th in the South Caribbean for Largest Basket Weaving Sector, scoring -4.24 on the Hickory Productivity Index.