Many socialists too would say, that real socialism has never been tried. But the issue seems to be more about centralization rather than capitalism vs socialism. I think there's an inherent trait in humanities' mentality, that leads it to centralization, to look for leaders etc. And I honestly am not sure how this is easily overcome.
Discussion
I agree with your take, yet I also think that these things are implemented in degrees, where each choice leads societies closer to socialism or to capitalism.
Quick example: capitalism rests on the free market principle where prices are free to move wherever demand and supply bring them to. This is not currently happening with the most important price: interest rates are determined by the central banks. We can conclude that in this respect we're not closer to capitalism.
I wanted to propose this example since too often we hear that "X has not been really tried" and it seems like a mischaracterization of how complex systems work.
Yep, I cannot disagree, but the problem still seems to be born of the tendency towards centralization. "Central banks"
That's obviously true, but what drives it? My take is that there is a fundamental difference in approach towards uncertainty.
Socialism wants to plan and control everything. It literally fears unknown dynamics.
Capitalism embraces uncertainty and places its trust on the naturally emerging behavior of groups and individuals.
Here's the problem for me with making war on such vocabulary, it is that these words mean very different things to different people. When I was younger (70s/early 80s) socialism meant the common man against vested interests. Now it seems to mean enforcing dogmatic concepts like transgernderism, and is often equated in the minds of north Americans with Marxism, and by extension Bolshevism. Same with capitalism in the minds of its opponents, it is equated with corporate power and centralization (crony capitalism), which I am sure is not what you are describing (I think capitalism and the drive to "capitalise" are an inate human characteristic). So we end up in this war denouncing "socialism" or "capitalism" when I actually think the problem is much deeper. Sorry, I do not have answers to solve this, I just like questioning things.