The People's Republic of Herfurt is a large, genial nation, notable for its state-planned economy, anti-smoking policies, and compulsory military service. The compassionate, democratic population of 189 million Herfurtians 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 government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 71.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Herfurtian economy, worth 3.77 trillion Marks a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Basket Weaving, and Tourism. Average income is 19,953 Marks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Counselors diagnose their clients with motherboard complexes, stone wrist watches that weigh 20lb are the latest trend, life-saving resuscitation is denied based on decades-old teenage diaries that declare "I want to die before I get old", and government-sponsored WiFi allows farmers to rant about city folks in real time. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Herfurt's national animal is the Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Herfurt is ranked 122,799^th in the world and 110^th in The Communist Bloc for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 1,453.23 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.