Basically , a handful of asset management firms have become the most powerful shareholders of the nation ' s largest banks . These mutual fund companies collect cash from retirement savers like you and me . They buy shares with it on our behalf , and vote these shares , usually with one voice . In these key aspects , large mutual fund firms resemble the voting trusts of J . P . Morgan ' s time . And yes , largescale common ownership nowadays also appears to thwart competition . Now add in wealth income inequity and one finds that it ' s mostly the folks at the top that are the holders of those mutual funds . The whole idea of They buy shares with it on our behalf is BS . it ' s not on our behalf . It income wealth inequality where much lower it might be true but it ' s not .