I think you're searching for reasons to disagree based on semantics and technicalities and evading the very cogent points made by the author. While there is room for disagreement about some of the nuances of what is meant by "Capitalism" or "democracy", do you think that there is really any comprehension problem w.r.t Stross' use of those terms? It seemed perfectly clear to me. His usage is quite conventional.

What about the quoted passage do you actually think is ambiguous?