The assistance by tech jerks could increase the Piketty inequalities.

Sir, Tim Harford defends the apps for obtaining a “reservation at a popular restaurant… something that have always been valuable but they have been hard to buy and sell” arguing that “none of the people hoping to secure a reservation at a Michelin-starred restaurant is poverty stricken”, “Lessons from tech jerks”, July 26.

Yes indeed but let us not forget that even the one-percenters or less, have to compete for the one-percenters-of-the-one-percenters, and as this new service will extract a higher price, we are again confronting a service that mostly benefits the plutocracy. In fact they will probably pay less for this reservation service that what they currently pay the concierge of the hotel where they reside… and so this can only help to drive up even more the Piketty-inequalities we are told to abhor.

Now on the positive side… when these Michelin-starred restaurants run their own auctioning of reservation system… perhaps they find it profitable to open up for instance early morning shifts… and then some non-plutocrat gourmets and gourmands like me could perhaps have a better chance of finding a seat… and hopefully the real chefs will then perform especially well for their real admirers.

But while, we are on the subject of jerks, let me again remind you that the worst ones are the bank regulators who discriminate against the fair access to bank credit of those who, because they are perceived as risky, are already being discriminated against… the #JerkRegulator