I am always one for some healthy conspiracy. And if we are talking about the monetary and power control systems, which have been hammered, folded, and forged over millennia the evidence of collusion and oppression at the top continues to stack up.

Whether it be empires, kingdoms, dictatorships, corporate conglomerates, etc. they are but a different side of the same coin. Those at the top (centralized players) maintain the same objectives regardless of the model, and those revolve around influence (manipulation), power (oppression), and growth (invasion) at all expense necessary. Since all things must come from somewhere, the cost of such objectives have historically always been placed on the masses as that is the biggest resource pool there is.

I do think that as a human being some form of influence and growth is very healthy with driving one towards achieving more. But these do not need to come at the cost of fellow human beings. Through decentralized and collaborative based system (like blockchain) we can flip the original model on its head, and prove that there is an alternate way to prosper. Hell that was the original goal of democracy to decentralize the power amongst constituents. While perhaps one of the better governance models we may have, it is still highly prone to collusion, manipulation and exploits on many levels. It's been happening for quite a while which is why as an American I feel we are seeing such strange division, chaos and Orwellian like behavior.