* {{Anvilicious}}: Unlimited privatization and free market capitalism aren't good things.
* CompleteMonster: John Nike is a stand-out CorruptCorporateExecutive even by the standards of the corporatist {{Dystopia}} in the novel. As the Vice-President of Marketing for [[MegaCorp Nike]], he arranges to increase their latest product's revenue by increasing its notoriety by killing ten of the first persons who buy it, [[WouldHurtAChild including children]]. When agent Jennifer Government catches on to his scheme through the inevitable chain of subcontractors that expose his plot, he orders Jennifer's 8-year old daughter Kate—revealed to be his own child from a previous relationship he had with Jennifer--kidnapped and [[OffingTheOffspring threatens to kill her]] if Jennifer tries to arrest him. He ultimately tries to hire a paramilitarized NRA to kill the President so he can give his own unscrupulous MegaCorp complete power to control and process humanity as he sees fit. John Nike's {{greed}} has no limits and he is willing to see [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans his entire society reduced to an unending nightmare]] out of selfishness and cruelty.
* MorePopularSpinoff: Browser-based politics simulator ''Website/NationStates'' started as a promotional item for the book.
* ValuesResonance: It was absurdist, political satire when it was first released. After the Great Recession, with the long term damage it has caused,[[note]]Sky high cost of living, persistent underemployment, extreme wage disparity, prohibitive healthcare costs, and increasing poverty rates even when unemployment is low[[/note]] it comes off less as satire and more a dire warning of what's to come if things do not change.