in my opinion you each have a piece of the truth. tptb, is a consortium, including the big banking interests (fed, rothschilds, others), the insurance industry (joined at the hip with the banksters), the political structures (with their millitaries as enforcers) and several other groups (media, educators, intel apparats, etc). in many cases there is interlocking leadership/control – i.e. overlapping boards of directors. they are all in each others’ pockets to one degree or another, and their actions loosely co-ordinated.
an interesting read is FRIDAY by robert a heinlein wherein the transnational corporations become major players on the world stage, launching attacks on the nation states. it’s science fiction set in the future, one of heinlein’s best in my opinion.