There have always been various powerful and wealthy elites steering the course of countries, whether they were religious elites, the nobility or the business elites. It happened in ancient times. It happens now. What we (the public) see is not what we get. And what the public hears from official sources is generally designed simply to keep them in their usual state: confused, distracted, and largely asleep. Only when the system gets so financially corrupt that it begins to break down and cease to function at a basic level will the public finally rise against it.

For instance, what finally triggered the French Revolution was not the gross inequalities between the rich and poor alone....but a huge increase in the price of food to the point where the poor in big cities like Paris could no longer feed themselves on their meagre incomes. The ensuing food riots led to revolution and the collapse of the system.

Major public revolts against the ruling system have been seen recently in places like Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Greece, etc. Such a public revolt will probably be seen eventually in the USA as well, and for financial reasons, but that doesn't necessarily mean that something better will come out of it. Sometimes something quite a bit worse can come out of it.

One thing for sure though. Change will come.