The Tankies on the Spice of Uncle Joe is a gargantuan, genial nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The cynical population of 25.433 billion Pescis are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Healthcare, and Social Policy. The average income tax rate is 76.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but stagnant Pesci economy, worth 350 trillion Croons 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 a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Uranium Mining, Pizza Delivery, Arms Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. 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 13,763 Croons, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

TV shows must meet strict ethnicity quotas, gambling is outlawed, Harry Potter books are banned, and the Unicorn is a protected species. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Uncle Joe's national animal is the Unicorn, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Uncle Joe is ranked 12,298^th in the world and 2^nd in Alliance of Stalinist States for Largest Populations, with 25.4 billion capita.