To what extent is the metaphor accurate? Is the system unified enough to display intent, an aim, a goal? Does the global system have a goal, at least implicitly? Is the shared goal of self-enrichment dominating the system enough to give the whole system an intended goal, which may be different from the actual outcome?
You don't need an explicit conspiracy to have people act in concert ...
It is not conspiratorial to assert that there are a few (very few) people who had an almost unimaginable amount of influence on the consensus opinion. And a lot in economics and politics is the consequence of shifts in the consensus opinion. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
Right now the narrative of capitalism, with unstated and stated goal of promoting the commpetion of individual "rational" desires in free markets, is less and less disputed in public discourse. It is considered as the only natural and legitimate mechanism for organising our societies. This wasn't the case 30 years ago, and was quite clearly the result of propaganda on its behalf - "Greed is good" in the 80's for example.
In France, the MEDEF (boss's union) is busy creating and promoting a narrative of "lets reward the risk taking of the entrepreneur" (ignoring the facts that the CEO's of large companies that are in this union bear very little actual risk themselves)... Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
