The United Socialist States of Lightning4004 is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Lightning with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, ban on automobiles, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.042 billion Lightning Citizens love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zeus's Throne. The average income tax rate is 89.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Lightning4004ian economy, worth 258 trillion deniers a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Information Technology, and Trout Farming. Average income is an impressive 126,567 deniers, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Students are wary of colorfully decorated new teachers with names like Professor Pipsqueak, residents of newly dried out bays live in fear of leaky dikes, several citizens have complained about scientists abducting their pets for experimentation, and protecting the land is holey work. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Lightning4004's national animal is the falcon, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Lightning4004 is ranked 151,219^th in the world and 10^th in Bethsaida for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 1,805.91 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.