Hey, Millionaire! Royalty used to rule the world, but that was a long time ago. These days,
presidents and prime ministers hold the world's power in their hands,
right? Maybe. There are other players involved, ones who might have even more power than
political leaders. You probably guessed I'm talking about the world's richest families.
Rumor has it that these families have been secretly ruling the world for a long time.
Maybe power passed on through bloodlines didn't die out along with the loss of royal power.
It just shifted to the financially powerful. But who are the families with so much money they
can potentially rule the world without us even knowing? I'm here to tell you. In this video,
I'll teach you everything you need to know about the world's richest families. Let's get to it!
5. Bush If you think the Bush family influence
started with George W Senior, you're wrong. And if you think Junior's little Whitehouse scandal is
the worst one the family ever had to face, you're so, so wrong. Their power started with Prescott
Sheldon Bush, a US Senator, and banker. But he didn't quite make all his money off banking.
It appears he made most of it by profiting off the horrors of World War Two. This is one
occasion where you don't even need conspiracy theorists to make a rich person look bad.
Documents were finally declassified in 2003 that showed he'd engaged in transactions in
violation of the Trading with Enemies Act. In fairness to Prescott, he did start collecting
funds for the victims of the war near the end. However, it was only because he discovered that
one of the Polish mines he was investing in was profiting off forced labor from Auschwitz. Yeah,
it doesn't get much worse than that. He was worth several million at the time of his death. The fact
that two of his descendants became president of the most powerful nation on earth proves how
much power the family has. You can't blame people for claiming that both presidents from the family
also encouraged wars under their rule after what Prescott did, even if it was never proven.
Did this surprise you? Number 1 is even more shocking, so keep watching!
4. DuPonts - This super influential family
was founded by a French immigrant, but they're now known as one of America's most powerful families.
They made their fortune out of something that's pretty controversial these days - weapons. More
specifically, they were the biggest manufacturers of gunpowder and dynamite supplying to the US
Military before the 1900s. They also manufactured industrial chemicals at the height of the
industrial revolution. Even after the anti-trust laws broke up their monopoly in the early 1900s,
they didn't seem to slow down much. The First World War was a great boost to the DuPont's
wallets, too, as the suppliers of nearly 40% of all munitions used by the Allied Forces.
When World War Two rolled around, they were at the center of the chaos again. This time,
they started producing plutonium for the US Government to assist with the Manhattan project
that eventually ended the war. They secretly built one of the largest plutonium plants in
the country to take on the job. When the Cold War rolled around in the 1950s, you can bet the
DuPonts were back again! You've probably already guessed they were major players in assisting the
US government in creating the hydrogen bomb. While it's hard to track down how much money
each DuPont made off these projects, we know the family is worth at least $11 billion today.
But we can all agree that dynamite and H bombs are a pretty shady way to make your billions.
3. Morgans
John Pierpont Morgan is more like a classic rich villain than a businessman. That image
just wouldn't be complete without an impossibly powerful family. His dad was a banker, which
probably gave him a leg up. But JP was much more than an ordinary banker. In 1893, important people
started getting pretty worried about how much of America's surplus gold was being bought by foreign
countries. But JP Morgan wasn't worried about the economy - he saw an opportunity. He put together
a syndicate of super-powerful, uber-rich bankers - see what I mean about the evil villain thing?
With people like the Rothschilds backing him, he started buying back gold from foreign investors.
Of course, this effectively stabilized America's economy and restored faith in the dollar. However,
it wasn't all good news. JP Morgan & Company was now one of the most influential financial
institutions in the world, with evil villain Morgan at the head. With economies all linked
to the gold standard, Morgan was now able to manipulate the economy to his advantage,
raising or lowering the value of the dollar and consumer prices as he saw fit. Yep, it's pretty
scary stuff. Of course, he wasn't satisfied with that, and he now had the power to control
two other major industries. He founded US Steel and General Electric and bought out competitors
to increase his control. You can probably tell he was the last person that should've had this power.
He was a typical heartless super-rich employer who bullied workers and competitors. He'd fire
workers at the drop of a hat, paid them almost nothing, and couldn't care less about workplace
safety. His workers regularly died in horrific industrial accidents, but he didn't care one bit.
He had no interest in anything that wasn't making him money. Sadly, it worked for him - he was worth
about $25 billion in today's money at the time of his death, and many of his descendants are
still worth over a billion each. Like I said, sometimes, you don't need conspiracy theories.
Tell us what you think about making money the way
the Morgans did! And keep watching - the richest families are coming up!
2. Rockefeller The Rockefellers are so rich you can use
their name as a synonym for a rich person. That's probably because oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller
was America's first-ever billionaire. His success was down to his smarts, of course. But he was
also in the right place at the right time. He started out working as a bookkeeper - something
his con-man dad probably didn't approve of. But that obviously didn't make him the fortune
he's famous for. He noticed an opportunity. The internal combustion engine had just been invented,
and John figured he could use that to refine oil. He went into business with his brothers
and a friend at exactly the right moment. It was right at the time of the Texas oil rush and the
discovery of all the oil reserves in the Middle East. Everyone was getting rich pumping oil out
of the ground, but almost nobody was refining it into a usable product. Soon, Rockefeller's
Standard Oil controlled 90 percent of America's oil refineries and pipelines! No wonder he was so
rich and powerful - nobody has more political influence than those who control the world's
oil supply. By the time of his death in 1937, John was worth $340 billion in today's money!
That's more than Elon Musk! Unfortunately, his family didn't share his talent for business.
Most of the money has evaporated now, although they're still worth about $11 billion,
which should keep them happy for a while. But they might not be quite as powerful as they used to be.
And finally, the richest and maybe most powerful family on earth is...
1. Rothschild
The Rothschilds have been at the center of just about every major conspiracy theory for over
two centuries now! That's kind of an achievement in its own right. Depending on who you ask,
you'll get a new and interesting unproven theory. Some say the Rothschilds are working with
brain-eating aliens. Others say they're behind 9/11. Some more sensible conspiracy theorists
claim that the Rothschilds commissioned the assassination of JFK before he could invade Cuba
and interfere with the lucrative sugar trade. And, of course, they've been blamed for every
major war as far back as we can remember. But like all the best conspiracy theories,
they are linked to reality. Mayer Rothschild was the one who started it all way back in the 1700s.
He was just an apprentice with Hamburg Bank, but he was pretty smart - at least smart enough to
see great opportunities in finance. Soon, he was a major player in world finance. He strategically
scattered his five sons around the globe, one in each of the world's financial capitals. It wasn't
an accident. They were there to help him oversee operations and help to stabilize international
currencies using his banking practices. Pretty smart. Of course, stable currencies help out
ordinary businessmen and buyers, but you've got to assume the Rothschilds were only thinking
of themselves, considering the huge quantities of money they made. Also, conspiracy theorists
were right about one thing: the Rothschilds really were heavily involved in financing wars.
Luckily for them, they always seemed to pick the right side. Today, they have a collective monthly
income of about $8 Billion! Don't worry, I also didn't realize that was possible.
They're worth about $500 billion in total, so they're not losing influence anytime soon.