THE NORDIC COMBINED MEDALS SHOW POWER OF FREE MARKET
I used to complain about how in some sports the USA does terrible. My standard whine (one of them anyway) was that we can do better than 36th place. I was uncertain (conflicted perhaps?) of whether we should field a team if we cannot do better than that. But this year we have a real chance in both Nordic Combined and biathion as well.
The Nordic Combined medal story is told to some extent in the NBC news article. The coach, Tom Steitz, persuaded US skiing officials for the funding they needed to win. Now they have the first two medals in the history of the sport. No government program or official or subsidy. Consider this:
At the beginning, Steitz and Marolt played a game of double-down. Steitz would ask for twice the money he’d asked for before; Marolt would demand certain results; Steitz would show Marolt that progress was being made and then ask for twice as much money again.
That sounds like good old fashioned American free market values: Hard work and determination and God-given talent. And results, too. We should all be proud.
