> Capitalism is merely private ownership of stuff.
No, it's private ownership and trade of stuff. That seems nitpicky, until you contrast it with other economic systems, in which case trade is strictly regulated, and it becomes obvious that's a large part of it.
> the generations of economic nuance we have developed
You mean the nuance that takes us further from a pure capitalistic and free market system into a hybrid system where there are regulations and communal (government) efforts to counteract the portions of capitalism and free markets that are not palatable for a modern society because they fail to lead to outcomes we want?
There are reasons why the poor of today are better off of the poor of a century ago, and many of those reasons are not much in line with capitalism and the free market, while others are. Minimum wage, regulations on predatory practices, etc account for a lot of that, while advancements in technology and medicine much of the rest.
Without regulations, which are a restriction on private trade, we'd still be dealing with the things Upton Sinclair chronicled so long ago (whether embellished or not).
I’m not sure what you’re arguing here aside from capitalism is also free trade. I think definitionally no, but semantically or practically maybe. Free trade is also a thing, sure. I’d like to examine the mechanism you’ve identified to attribute the sources of betterment, if you are not merely making it up as you go.
No, it's private ownership and trade of stuff. That seems nitpicky, until you contrast it with other economic systems, in which case trade is strictly regulated, and it becomes obvious that's a large part of it.
> the generations of economic nuance we have developed
You mean the nuance that takes us further from a pure capitalistic and free market system into a hybrid system where there are regulations and communal (government) efforts to counteract the portions of capitalism and free markets that are not palatable for a modern society because they fail to lead to outcomes we want?
There are reasons why the poor of today are better off of the poor of a century ago, and many of those reasons are not much in line with capitalism and the free market, while others are. Minimum wage, regulations on predatory practices, etc account for a lot of that, while advancements in technology and medicine much of the rest.
Without regulations, which are a restriction on private trade, we'd still be dealing with the things Upton Sinclair chronicled so long ago (whether embellished or not).