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I know that most things we value are made by people, and I agree that the fact that people make them give those people some special claim to what they make.

But is that all there is to it? Maybe not. After all, we also have natural resources, and perhaps the best way to think of them is as manna. Some Christian writers used to say that God gave the world to people in common.

In any case, if we think of natural resources as a fund that no one can ever fully own, then perhaps this fact is the basis for a communal claim on a portion of whatever anyone produces using those resources. Everyone is born 'owning' a piece of the world's natural resources. Everyone has a share, so to speak. And therefore everyone has a claim to a bit of the wealth created out of those resources.

An argument like this might be used to ensure that to some extent private property is always used to advance the common good. That's my own version of the Rawlsean second principle.