The Potato-Farming Peoples of Betelgeuse XII is a gargantuan, cultured nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, hatred of cheese, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 42.523 billion Betelgeuse XIIians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Betelgeuse XII City. The average income tax rate is 77.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Betelgeuse XIIian economy, worth a remarkable 3,165 trillion Altairian Dollars a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector is mostly comprised of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 74,434 Altairian Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Visitors to the famed rainforests are instead taken to vast furniture factories, innocent defendants often plea guilty for fear of receiving a much harsher sentence before jury, the minority inevitably have their addenda vetoed, and universities are populated by the spawn of the upper classes. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Betelgeuse XII's national animal is the Elvis Impersonator, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Betelgeuse XII is ranked 2,688^th in the world and 5^th in United Kingdom for Most Beautiful Environments, with 3,186.91 pounds of wildlife per square mile.