The Most Serene Republic of Balto is a huge, genial nation, remarkable for its public floggings, frequent executions, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 654 million Yognaughts are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Seaportattleland. The average income tax rate is 70.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Baltoan economy, worth 38.3 trillion Jaffa Cakes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Basket Weaving, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 58,633 Jaffa Cakes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

SPAM is illegal but spam is everywhere, the government snoops on private internet connections, it takes months to get the proper permits for a child's first tricycle, and the government has been criticized for giving away Balto's territory to anyone who claims it. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Balto's national animal is the Crab People, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Balto is ranked 11,941^st in the world and 555^th in The North Pacific for Safest, scoring 119.08 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.