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Vanguard is mutually held, a rarity these days. Which means that if you own some shares of their SP500 index fund, you own a part of Vanguard, and they work for your benefit. They are as big as they are because they solved the original alignment problem.

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So if I invest my meager peasant earnings in Vanguard funds, my holdings are considered equally as important as the Rockefellers?

And it was the solving of this alignment problem that attracted all the Rockefellers, Whitneys, Vanderbilts, etc to Vanguard? So they're not insiders, just big customers with no relationship to the firm itself.

Most very wealthy individuals (not sure your examples fit this group) do not use Vanguard. They are more likely to use private wealth management. I feel like you actually have no idea what you are talking about?

So your conclusion is that very wealthy individuals do not own and control Vanguard--they have nothing to do with it at all--that it's collectively owned by the rabble--and all is well as we little people have everything in control via our company Vanguard (that we little people collectively own) and together we're heading into a bright shining new tomorrow? Definitely nothing sinister going on here involving big monied interests vacuuming up ownership of the entire economy through relentless consolidation.

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