Q. Who controls the world?
A. A handful of national governments, with the overwhelming ammount of power lying with the government of the United States. The democratic governments in this group are heavily influenced by lobbying groups, the most powerful of which are the wealthiest (financial and trade lobbies that are a broad conglomeration of big business interests). These wealthy elites also influence national governments through ownership of the media (While mainstream media is not a unified political entity it broadly supports liberal free market ideology). The non-democratic national governments are basically state-capitalist entities and cut out the middle man, with economic interests and state interests being one and the same.