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“NaCl”

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The Salty Salts of Brine Sample is a titanic, safe nation, ruled by Saltan with an even hand, and remarkable for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 13.824 billion Salts are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Salt City. The average income tax rate is 36.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The large but underdeveloped Brine Samplean economy, worth 365 trillion Salts 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 Tourism, Book Publishing, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Soda Sales. 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 26,447 Salts, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sneezing pedestrians are grabbed by alley-lurking doctors, forest fires have dropped dramatically as there are hardly any forests left, the Ministry of Health has reported a sharp increase in the incidence of delayed menopause, and lawyers spend as much time preparing their make-up as they do their briefs. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Brine Sample's national animal is the Saltfish, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Salt.

Brine Sample is ranked 292,909^th in the world and 7^th in The Liberty League for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -10.38 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.