There could be, but I don't think that there's small group of people who are ruling the whole world. I think this small group of people have enormous impact on today's society but I don't think they are controlling everything. But money, politics... yes, probably.
If you control the world's financial flows it is possible to control the whole world. It seems to me that world government is not. There is a small group of countries which has a large impact on the global economy, but no more. With money they can do a lot, but not all.