The Schlaraffenstaat of Shetl is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Fotomodell Ariane with a fair hand, and renowned for its compulsory vegetarianism, ban on automobiles, and lack of airports. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 25.478 billion Menschen are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Menschenbad. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Menschliche economy, worth a remarkable 6,867 trillion Big Zasters a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology and Tourism. Average income is an amazing 269,553 Big Zasters, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Confessions don't count if suffixed with "izzle", mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field, angry citizens complain that there isn't enough geographical diversity on the new banknotes, and terrorists are on a first name basis with the officials that stamp their passports. Crime is totally unknown. Shetl's national animal is the Handpony, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Nontheist Quakerism.

Shetl is ranked 36,917^th in the world and 64^th in Europe for Most Extensive Civil Rights, with 80.72 Martin Luther King, Jr. Units.