They're Global Citizens. They're Hugely Rich. And They Pull the Strings.

By David Rothkopf

Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page B01

We didn't elect them. We can't throw them out. And they're getting more powerful every day.

At the same time, political and military elites are fading in relative influence -- the former bound by geography, the latter by the extraordinarily high cost of modern warfare. The regional composition of the group is changing as well, as transatlantic elites who today make up about 60 percent of the class gradually give way to a rising cadre of Asian leaders, such as the 100 Chinese billionaires estimated to have emerged in the last couple of years.

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