The United States of Tanish is a very large, safe nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service and irreverence towards religion. The hard-working, cynical population of 177 million Tanishians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 12.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Tanishian economy, worth 11.5 trillion Tanish Bucks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Gambling, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is 64,816 Tanish Bucks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Children need to wear helmets and safety harnesses before mounting a carousel horse, the controversial show 'Who Wants to be an Immigrant?' has become wildly popular, religious turf wars have caused frustrated police to pray for divine intervention, and the children of Tanish are often remarked upon for their cheery attitude to extreme violence. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Tanish's national animal is the Monkey, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Tanish is ranked 25,353^rd in the world and 965^th in the South Pacific for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 4,785.22 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.