The Bird Is The Word of Hydroponic Nation is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Hydroponicus with a fair hand, and notable for its frequent executions, smutty television, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 48.156 billion Hydroponicans hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Greenleaf. The average income tax rate is 72.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Hydroponic Nationian economy, worth a remarkable 7,566 trillion Funyons a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Gambling and Tourism. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 157,116 Funyons, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Clergy who start talking about politics are forced to take a holy vow of silence, Big Agriculture has the government by the nuts, Hydroponicus's media campaigns take a hiatus around exam week, and social networking sites have discussion groups devoted to planning terrorist attacks. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, probably because of the absence of a police force. Hydroponic Nation's national animal is the Wombat, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Hydroponic Nation is ranked 305,101^st in the world and 36^th in Wysteria for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -17.44 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.