When I was a kid, I played Deus Ex. I was about 17 years old at the time.
I was able to understand that DX was a cartoon version of its subject matter. But it nonetheless captured my imagination, asking
"What if the entire planet could be managed by mere mortals?"
In the story, of course, this has disastrous consequences. The systems are too vast and complex. The answer ends up being:
"They'd ruin everybody's life until they ran the whole system off a cliff."
But the genie was out of the bottle, for my young mind at least. The idea of secret cabals of the ultra wealthy and politically connected, exerting influence over the unfolding of history...
It was appealing. To imagine at least that someone was in a driver's seat.
Somewhere.
And look, it's not like there aren't clubs.
There are, literally, clubs. The Ivy League buys little hangouts in different major cities, so alums can efficiently transact that lucrative network. There's douchier, nouveau riche versions of the same. Cliques, associations, name it.
But it turns out, there's no board room somewhere secret.
In practice, there's no global board of directors. The system isn't that tidy. It's all the chaotic grasping of people desperate to keep themselves safe, and therefore powerful.
The alignment of the elites is emergent.