RE: Imagine America if Trump declared himself King forever! Now think about Britain...
I read that article now, and to some degree I agree with the concept, as I already mentioned, but I don't think the group of powerful people is quite as tiny.
What this article envisions is basically a "politburo" of like half a dozen people, who secretely control the world, mostly beause they already control it, like a dictator who's in charge because he's in charge.
That's not how I think it works. I think it's a conspiracy without a conspiracy. Meaning powerful individuals everywhere, usually because they're wealthy, can influence politics through donating to elections, or by directly bribing politicians by promising to "employ" them afterwards for lots of money. Those powerful billionaires and corporations don't have to get into a smokefilled room and make evil plans, they already get more than they demand just by bribing those politicians separately.
Alright, now that we basically agree on the issue: How can we fix it?
My plan is that every politicians can only own 1 million dollars when he enters politics, all else either has to be given to charity or is seized by the state. In office he can't take any money from anyone but the state, which also funds all elections (through democracy vouchers), and once he leaves office he can only make up to 50'000$ a year, all above that is taxed at 100%. What do you think?
I think the eivdence is substantial and written right through history of the specific aims of numerous of these wealthy families and their agents - including the raping of Africa and much more besides. In any case, setting aside the structure of it all - the financial changes you suggest are flawed in that the entire financial system and the property system attached to it is just as corrupt - meaning that there are hundreds of ways around any inspections of finances and on top of that, the power magnates already have all the money they can need or ever use - so unless there is a total reset I don't see any such limits being as effective as needed.
There is also the huge issue of blackmail of politicians (which is the norm now).
Beyond all of this though, the core issue remains, which is that democracy is fundmantally unfair and unbalanced since it is a group of people getting together to decide who should tell them what to do and more than that to specifically tell a percentage of people who don't agree too.. This is a huge issue and not one that can be fixed by control since it is a form of control in itself. Only the absence of control can solve such issues.