There are no dollars in the UCAS or the world for that matter. It's all Nuyen.
Japanese corporations have taken over (Renraku, Yamatetsu, Mitsuhama, Fuchi to name the big guys).
Think Johnny Mnemonic to the nth degree with fantasy/magic creatures in addition to cyberware and cyberspace. Oh and... american indians are pretty big too, but the elves are pretty crazy too up in Tir Tairngire.
I've got a lot of the novels, and I love them all. I wonder how they'll handle the game. I really liked the Genesis theme for Shadowrun.
and blah blah blah blah blah
btw, the last president was a dragon...Dunkelzhan... there is a lot of history behind the shadowrun universe up until 2060'ish. I just couldn't keep up with the novels (and $10 CDN per book really kills).