The Ministry of Information of the Communist Bloc is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Minister of Information with a fair hand, and remarkable for its state-planned economy, complete lack of prisons, and daily referendums. The compassionate, democratic population of 10.079 billion Comrades are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of the Capital District. The average income tax rate is 72.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Information of the Communist Blocian economy, worth 733 trillion words 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 Tourism, Information Technology, Cheese Exports, and Book Publishing. 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 72,752 words, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Minister of Information's told that love often manifests itself through homicidal four-lettered litanies, libraries are now installed with jacuzzis and mini-bars, signs at the border tell international drivers where they can put their cars, and teams of painters are converting road signs from horse lengths to kilometers. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Information of the Communist Bloc's national animal is the article, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Egoism.

Information of the Communist Bloc is ranked 20,236^th in the world and 458^th in The Communist Bloc for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 7,994.35 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.