Except in very rare cases no one industry, and certainly not one business, can be held "responsible" for our economy. The economy is (usually) molded by the combined power of the players involved and which way they are moving - the sum of their vectors (direction x economic power), if you will. This includes government and it's economic power as well but "government" isn't individually responsible any more than businesses. They all add their vector to the equation.
As far as exploiting workers go, I can see where someone who disagrees with capitalism would see it as worker exploitation because there are no other alternatives. In America we are forced to either live on handouts (from whatever source) or participate in the capitalist system. Generally, we're forced to participate in the System even if we live off handouts since we (usually) must buy food. While you and I have no problem with this because we accept the system, others who disagree would certainly see it differently.
And just as a note, some workers are exploited - especially during the worst of economic times.
I totally, completely get what you're saying, especially with the vectors (go trig!), but I have to disagree with the government part. The politicians are allowing themselves to be bought, and the resulting corporatism and protectionism screws up the way the game is supposed to be fairly played. Why we will prosecute Bradley Manning for treason for exposing war crimes, while our very politicians are guilty of high treason for being bought and sold like packs of cigarettes, is beyond me, but that's another topic.
The fact is, some people's labor simply isn't going to be worth a fine standard of living. Let me give you an example. Let's say I open a fast food restaurant, Alpaca Burgers (No Alpacas used). I hire a burger flipper. I've determined at 20 burgers an hour, he earns the company a gain of $10 per hour. I then offer him a job at $8 per hour. $10 is the absolute maximum value of his worth to me, after that I'm losing money. Now, for the socialists that live in a dream world, let's propose a scenario. $8 an hour really isn't much to live on, so let's double the pay of every low end worker, and I'm not allowed to lay anybody off. So he's making $16/hr now. An Alpaca burger that used to cost $5 will now cost near $10. Every other item in our society produced by low end labor will also nearly double in price.
Looking at the net standard of living that this guy could afford before, and after, the raise, it really wouldn't have changed much. If he wanted to go take his family out for a dinner, what maybe used to cost $40, may now be $80, because all of the restaurant staff, the cook, the waitress, and so on, are now making double.
Let's also now mention that the middle and upper class that used to buy my Alpaca Burgers are no longer interested in paying $10 a burger, and I now go out of business. That burger flipper no longer has a job. The only way for someone to improve their standard of living is to improve their worth and in turn earn more. Distorting the nature of things and paying someone more than their worth will only bring everything tumbling down.
I get that there are some really ****ed up big businesses out there, totally get it, but that is not the majority of businesses.