The Armed Republic of Hepanastat State is a huge, efficient nation, renowned for its daily referendums, pith helmet sales, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 222 million Hepanastat Stateans are free to succeed or fail in life on their own merits; the successful tend to enjoy an opulent (but moralistic) lifestyle, while the failures can be seen crowding out most jails.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 33.7%.

The all-consuming Hepanastat Statean economy, worth 17.4 trillion Fireworks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with significant contributions from Gambling, Book Publishing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 78,192 Fireworks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.7 times as much as the poorest.

A suspicious number of male students have joined the Ladies' Wrestling League, exports of chewing gum are inexplicably falling, citizens are exhausted from weekly general elections, and anyone claiming to be a messiah is promptly put to death. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hepanastat State's national animal is the cat, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Hepanastat State is ranked 87,943^rd in the world and 149^th in The League for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 2,779.3 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.