Who does really rule the world?

Lisa Karpova at Pravda (in English) makes a great, much needed, review of what we know and what we do not know. 

The essence of her conclusions I quote:

In short: the eight largest U.S. financial companies (JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Morgan Stanley) are 100% controlled by ten shareholders and we have four companies always present in all decisions: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and Fidelity. 

... 



The same "big four" control the vast majority of European companies counted on the stock exchange.

In addition, all these people run the large financial institutions, such as the IMF, the European Central Bank or the World Bank, and were "trained" and remain "employees" of the "big four" that formed them.

The names of the families that control the "big four", never appear.

Who are they exactly? As (unwilling) subjects of their shadowy dictatorship we must find out.


What does Wikipedia tells us about these four companies:

Key people: Laurence D. "Larry" Fink (Chairman & CEO) and Robert S. Kapito (President).   They both began their careers at First Boston corporation (nowadays Credit Suisse).

Fink, third from left, receiving the Wilson Awards

Fink and Kapito co-founded (sic) Black Rock in 1988 under the umbrella (sic) of Blackstone (founded in 1985). How much do they own of their own company? Are they two of the handful who rule Earth?

Unlike Black Rock, State Street Corporation has more than two centuries behind being founded in 1792, the same year that monarchy was first abolished in France.

Unlike the Black Rock case Wikipedia has no article on the person who as President and CEO steers this powerful emporium: Jay Hooley.

However, as any good feudal lord, they have their own tower in Boston (pictured).

The third power is The Vanguard Group, founded by John C. Bogle in 1975. However he was totally excluded by his hand-picked heir John Brennan since 1996. Brennan was previously chairman of the ICI, which is like an elite club of speculators (they say investors but it's just an euphemism) for what I can discern.

The fourth power is Fidelity Investments, founded in 1946 in Boston.  The founder Johnson family still controls the company: Edward Johnson III, son and namesake of the founder, is Chairman and CEO, his daughter Abigail Johnson is co-President and leads a branch of the company. They are the 40th and 22nd richest US citizens respectively, according to Forbes.

Another key person is Kathleen Murphy (pictured), who is co-President and leads a second branch of the company. She comes from the Dutch bank ING.

These people are all extremely rich and powerful, controlling many other powerful companies and, through them the Fed and the ECB, among many other power resorts. But they largely act as managers for others: who are they? As de facto rulers of the World, they must respond to the People.