In world view, maybe they're different.

In practice, absolutely not.

It doesn't matter how you skin a cat, it's still pretty fucked up to be skinning cats.

Because it really looks like a horseshoe.

I see socialism as making laws that overly regulate businesses under the pretense of "helping the consumer" or "taking care of the environment."

Capitalism would then be making laws that give too much freedom to businesses under the pretense of "helping business owners" and "keeping government small."

Both are neutral belief systems, so long as you adhere to their pretenses. Once you apply them wantonly, you win stupid prizes.

I see socialism is an excuse to shove in predatory regulations to prevent the common man from succeeding while enshrining certain groups who already have the capacity to meet the demands of those regulations. This forms a bureaucracy, where those in the bureau and those with connections in the bureau dictate the means of production. Once monopolies are fully enshrined and the common man loses the right to private property (because they cannot meet the demands of the regulations demanded to maintain their property) then you have Communism.

Capitalism uses the excuse that we must get rid of laws and regulations that keep businesses from growing. Going overboard, however, makes it impossible for the common man to compete with colluding oligopolies and monopolies that take advantage of the no-rules landscape and work their employees to death like tools instead of human beings, which forms a Corporatism. Corporatists then work to enshrine their monopolies into societal necessities, like water, energy, and food, thereby setting us all up on a subscription model to survive, ensuring the common man must rent everything from Big _ Corporation. Effectively Fascism.

The end goal is the same; Private Property goes bye bye.

Fascism is more about encouraging businesses by over-regulating both exports and imports under the auspices of "nationalism", but it's really just a means of regulating your own people who dare deal outside of your domestic control scheme. Fascists give corporations the power to deal outside the national system, and what's left is the common man fending for himself and working as slaves to fuel the corporatist leaders. Communism does the same, but just says "screw it" and takes everything from the common man and hands it right to those who already have the most power. Effectively, they are the same.

Policies that prevent public pools from using run-off drain water fall under socialism. Which isn't a bad thing, those policies are what you'd want as a consumer. It's not really good though, so neutral.

Once you tell the public pools they can only use water treated with X amount of chlorine, from THIS curated source, and fill out THIS FORM in order to stay open, then you have a Bureaucracy.

When they then claim the public pool and make it a government entity that can only use government approved water and government approved water treatment methods while fining or imprisoning anyone who dare swim in the pond or lake instead of follow all the rules for running a public pool, then you have Communism.