The Republic of Izern 276 is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its otherworldly petting zoo, soft-spoken computers, and compulsory gun ownership. The democratic population of 641 million Izern 276ians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 50.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Izern 276ian economy, worth 37.1 trillion izerns 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 black market in Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, Trout Farming, and Basket Weaving. 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 57,904 izerns, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Old dogs don't have to learn new tricks but they have to prove they haven't forgotten old ones, foreign leaders' Twitcher accounts are monitored for potential threats to national security, barbed wire entanglements and guard towers surround the Izern 276 City Natural History Museum, and residents are readily ratting out rats in restaurants. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Izern 276's national animal is the izern, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Izern 276 is ranked 55,145^th in the world and 159^th in Izern for Highest Poor Incomes, with 51,662.84 Standard Monetary Units.