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Labor is human capital, and in a free market, people should be free to deploy their human capital wherever they want to get maximum ROI.

> As ever I feel the need to remind people that we live in a capitalist economy, not a laborist one.

And it should stay that way forever because...?

I don't know about should, but it will because of the various political decisions made in the last few decades that have locked us in. In case it was unclear from my previous comment, I am not happy with this state of affairs; I actually find it profoundly depressing.

> Regulations to protect labor aren’t really what capital would call a free market

I think thats backwards - it is only by power of law and courts that the contract can be enforced.

We don’t get our courts to enforce what isn’t a valid commercial interest - you can’t can’t have a contract of sorts

‘if you leave this job in New York you must leave New York and not come back for 5 years’

Alternatively

‘If you leave this job you must not have sex for 1 year’ would not fly either

So we already are making decision for what is allowed in the contract. And if you could put anything you want into contract, there would be many terrible contacts that make leaving your job too painfull, turning it into slavery-lite.