The United Socialist States of Big Zebra is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 645 million Big Zebrans 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, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mid-Sized Zebra. The average income tax rate is 77.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Big Zebran economy, worth 44.0 trillion bucks a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Trout Farming, and Pizza Delivery. Average income is 68,186 bucks, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Census workers struggle to account for the rapidly increasing number of citizens to tabulate, family isn't who you're born with but who you abandon in foreign countries, employers are finding it hard to screen candidates now that everyone gets A grades in their exams, and if someone says there's plenty of living space in Big Zebra they're lyin'. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Big Zebra's national animal is the zebra, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Big Zebra is ranked 298,342^nd in the world and 4^th in Beef for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -11.57 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.