This argument is pretty disingenuous. Some wealthy individuals were born into very privileged families and some poor people remain poor due to exploitation, but that certainly does not apply universally.

>Highest bidder would work great and allow excellent prioritization if everyone had roughly the same means.

I'm not sure why this system only works well when everyone has the same means. As the article points out, a price increase for a good or service can actually incentivize people to increase supply (people who initially decided to take the night off from driving now decide to work in order to cash in since demand is high). In other industries this can lead to more competition and innovation as well.