It is fascinating to see that Marxist ideas linger on even into the twenty-first century. Marx, like Freud, developed an industrial-age religion to replace the Abrahamic myths that were rapidly losing their audience as the world changed beyond anything an illiterate goat-herder in the Middle East living millennia ago would recognize. But as a mythology, Marxism is no less inadequate than the religions it sought unintentionally to replace. Marx was an atrociously poor economist - his notion of "value" is risible - and in consequence of fundamental economic illiteracy his entire thesis about exploitation is totally incorrect. Moreover, it's amusing to note that the totalitarian regimes Marxism inspired were at heart capitalist, because capitalism is the use of capital to increase gross factor productivity. This is why Lenin was so keen on industrializing the USSR and why China has been so keen (at least since the catastrophic ineptitude of Mao) to industrialize likewise. And what happens to the extra GDP created by industrialization? A small amount goes into the pockets of people we like to despise, but most goes into basic infrastructure. That's why we have roads and schools and hospitals etc. and why life expectancy has more than doubled since Marx's time.

Yes, market economies (which are not at all the same thing as capitalism) are not in fact fully efficient and yes, individuals can and do game the system - banks are notable in this regard. But compared to the inept kleptocracy of the USSR and now present-day Russia, and compared to the horrific ineptitude and murderous stupidity of Mao's China, one must recognize that Marxist notions of "exploitation" are grossly misplaced.

Marx was, basically, a very unpleasant human being and a rather dull-witted polemicist. And that is really all we need to say on the matter.