They flock to elite gatherings such as the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Trilateral Commission and the Boao meeting in China.

ECONOMIST: Where the influential people meet and talk

Although Mr Volcker resumed his banking career on Wall Street after his government service, he continued to serve on various advisory committees, including the Group of Thirty and the Trilateral Commission.

BBC: Obama makes crisis the priority

IBM, membership of advisory boards at Citigroup and DaimlerChrysler, and one of the six deputy chairmanships of the Trilateral Commission, the body of grandees which in anti-globalist demonology supposedly runs the planet.

ECONOMIST: Cement

Given the central bank acts often in secret, and through informal contacts in networks like the Trilateral Commission ( see membership list here) and Bilderberg it's hard to subject them to scrutiny.

BBC: Central banks are part of the state

He's tapped into groups that want to abolish the IRS, people who want the U.S. out of the U.N. and back on the Gold Standard, activists who want marijuana legalized and those who write long essays about the trilateral commission.

NPR: Dark Horse Paul Runs Well on the Web