Last week, CNN host Chris Cuomo asked self-described democratic-socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez how exactly she planned to pay for ambitious social programs like “Medicare for All, college tuition, maybe even housing.” She answered:

Why is it that our pockets are only empty when it comes to education and healthcare for our kids? Why are pockets only empty when we talk about 100 percent renewable energy that is going to save this planet and allow our children to thrive? We only have empty pockets when it comes to the morally right things to do, but when it comes to tax cuts for billionaires and when it comes to unlimited war, we seem to be able to invent that money very easily.

Her comment hit the nail on the head. Society already has the wealth and resources we need to provide a decent standard of living for everyone. And the vast majority of the population is responsible for the creation of that wealth through work. The problem is one of distribution: resources are concentrated in the hands of a few economic elites, instead of being shared among the workers whose labor created it.