day no. 15,596: who is owed what by whom?

Justice is a matter of asking and answering, "WHO is owed WHAT by WHOM?"

The WHOs and WHATs are usually clearly defined whereas the by WHOMs are usually less specific.

Fore example, John is owed affordable healthcare.

By WHOM? The hospital? It's employees? The government? Should the hospital charge less for the services? Should the employees perform the task for less per hour? Should the hospital continue to charge the same amount, but charge it to someone else's account? Should the employees continue to make the same amount, but have their salaries subsidized by someone else?

WHO is responsible to make sure healthcare is affordable? And should they have the authority to do it whatever it takes or are there limits to how affordability can be achieved? If so, WHO is in charge of monitoring if those limits have been exceeded?

If someone is owed something, someone else is obligated to provide it. This assumes they have it or have access to it. If everyone is owed a glass of chocolate milk, this means that cocoa and milk producers are now under an obligation to provide certain quantities of their respective products in defined proportions. But what if there isn't enough cocoa to meet the obligation? What if there isn't enough milk in existence to grant every human being an 8 oz glass per day? Are the cocoa and milk farmers required to find ways to produce more in order to meet their obligations? If they can't, are they guilty of a crime? Is their failure to produce their products in these capacities amount to immorality? Are they allowed to quit? Can they walk away from the cocoa producing game? Or would that be a crime? Are the producers required to sell their products for an amount each person could afford? Or only for how much a particular person can afford? And who monitors this and makes sure it's the right price? 

When contemplating justice, don't forget that every ought requires someone else to do or provide something. If someone is owed something, someone else is obligated to supply it.