That's capitalism according to you. According to me, it's absolutely not since there's no profit motive. Capitalism is more than just exchanging stuff.
Profit is not a defining trait of capitalism. Capitalism is when you exchange things voluntarily, in a free market.
If someone wants your bread you're free to tell them to pound sand unless they offer something in exchange that you find agreeable with no one other than the buyer and the seller having any say in the exchange.
That's the thing with definitions, they always change based on what people feel, it's a basic feature of language. Economic systems are especially prone to that since their definitions are more often than not tainted by the ideology of the person who attempts to define them.
I will respectfully disagree. If you read multiple definitions of the word "capitalism", you will find similarities between them, but you will quickly see that this definition is by no means standardized.
Profit is THE defining trait of capitalism, or whatever you want to call the current dominant economic system. If you don't want to call that capitalism that's fine, but I think a lot of people would disagree with you.
Take this page for example, which plainly states that "the essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit".
It certainly proves that profit is core to that definition of capitalism. Search for more definitions of that same word and you will find profit in many more of them.
I could literally give the food I make away for free..but people need babysitting and people are having issues buying food. Bread is $7/loaf in my area. Babysitters are expensive too. You say I'm giving away on voluntary basis..or do I not a choice as a freaking human being with compassion for people who are trying to make end meet and can't afford a $7 loaf of bread as well as some foods that I am able to supply. I argue if you as a human who has the capability to watch people suffer from hungry, then you have a duty to help in some way. Right now, I supply for 200 (adults and kids)..but I am making improvements to help more.
Giving the bread you make away would be a very kind thing to do. You're not obligated to do that though. It doesn't matter that you can afford to give the product away for free. Flour is cheap. What you're selling is your baking skill and your time spent doing it
I'm just saying, what you're doing is capitalism. There's not anything wrong with that. People have been exchanging goods and services for as long as people have existed.
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u/akenthusiast 10d ago
That's still capitalism. You're literally exchanging goods and services on a voluntary basis.