The Barium of Ba is a gargantuan, efficient nation, remarkable for its ban on automobiles, frequent executions, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 28.198 billion Bans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The relatively small, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 37.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ban economy, worth a remarkable 7,335 trillion Electrons 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Soda Sales, and Retail. 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 an amazing 260,158 Electrons, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

Self-sufficiency is built on seizing foreign assets, legislators toe the party line lest the Sergeant-at-Arms decide to conduct "truncheon practice" on the backbench, anyone with an emergency on a holy day is advised to pray harder, and domestic fishermen fly the Ban flag out of fear of being blown up. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ba's national animal is the Up quark, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Ba is ranked 1,386^th in the world and 1^st in Trav khar for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 9,144.18 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.