@sardonicsmile What do they do? Provide connections/give you a foot in the door among the other powerful elite. Sort of like a secret handshake. Most of those people are not really smarter than the general population when they are the children of the people in power. Those that first rose to power might be smarter, but nepotism will only make the next generations duller.

Many colleges operate in this same fashion. The average person does not realize the college itself does not confer success.