• Located east of Monterrey, northeastern Mexico.

Author: Hari Seldon Date: 2005 Object: Parque Fundidora

This image was taken a long time ago, but it was uploaded with the explicit purpose of being a graphic companion to the en:Mexico article — in the economy subsection, and perhaps later in en:Economy of Mexico.

The rationale that the author had for it is that en:Fundidora Park is the most accurate representation of the history of Mexico's economy in the 20th century:

Private individuals risked their capital to create the largest steel foundry in Latin America. The government, then controlled by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional—PRI, decided that it was immoral for private individuals to make a profit and nationalized the company, called "Fundidora de Fierro y Acero". As usually happens when governments intervene in the economy, the foundry collapsed and the company went bankrupt, leaving dozens of thousands unemployed, and losing a great value for the economy of Monterrey and Mexico.

Due to government incompetence and negligence, the property was left to rot for over a decade. It was little by little, and through a slow process of privatization, that the property was turned again into productivity, first with a convention center (CINTERMEX), then with a Theme Park, and finally, through an alliance with en:Champ Car, into a beautiful NYC Central Park-style recreation facility that served as a car racing venue for a few years.

In conclusion, the history of the park mirrors that of Mexican 20th century: entrepreneurs tried to make the 20th century the "Mexican" century, but socialist governments intervened to impose their own morality and ended up losing huge amounts of value for the national population, impoverishing millions. The people had to wait many years after economic freedom was lost for it to return, and now that it is slowly returning, value is flourishing again, but slowly, and without the prospect of ever becoming what it once was.

In the opinion of the author, Fundidora Park is a testament of what happens when governments intervene in the economy, and a lesson to be learned for all governments that ache to reduce economic freedom with the excuse of "social justice".