I don't care much about there being "collusion in the Top 20" - I'm not an anarchist cypherpunk. I do not believe "decentralization" is a stable organizational system.

There is "collusion" at the top in the Chinese Communist Party and yet if you compare Mao's China with today's China you may conclude that "collusion", in and by itself, is not necessarily bad.

What you call "collusion" can also be called "unity of purpose" and it's not a problem, unless the strategic objectives are ill chosen, the tactical objectives are ill chosen too and the execution is abysmal. As was the case with HF20.

In other terms, if the leadership is composed of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao (I reserve judgement on Xi) then steem advances and prosperes (despite "collusion" in the Top 20). But if the leadership is the Kim family of North Korea then we are in trouble indeed ...