"Rich and powerful people know each other, and always have. They do business together, their families socialize and intermarry, and they naturally work together to benefit themselves and their friends. You can call that conspiracy if you like, and certainly the rich to a great extent control the world because they can and it is profitable to do so."

You're right, except that often (as in the case of the Bilderberg Group) some of these people are democratically elected and they are making decisions that effect the lives of their constituents and beyond in a situation where the electorate is excluded. This is an abuse of their position and is way beyond their own mandate to govern, and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.