Do you remember this? m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLq...

In fact Marx was very precise about who he saw as exploiters. It was not merchants, middlemen etc. It was specifically employers of wage labour, as wages/salaries were never (and will never be) as much as the wealth value created by those employees, hence the profit margin.

Defenders of American "democracy" scoff at monarchies in which the king or queen is above the law. How is this different? The American Constitution, as it is currently being implemented, allows for an ex/incoming President to be officially allowed to do anything (including murder) & be untouchable.