The 2040's were a prosperous time marked by high economic growth and continued peace insured by the Pacific Alliance. Taxes on the rich are as high as 90% in the United States and other Pacific nations, enabling more social welfare programs, and closing the income gap that was so prevelent in the early 21st Century. Populism had spread to every nation in POTA, and many others, enabling the largest sphere of economic and military cooperation in the history of the world. The world saw a radical shift towards a more open society, enabled primarily by the liberalization of Genetic Modification laws.