Ok, so number 1,  I'm sure they only refer to themselves as "Illuminati" jokingly these days although it is known that at one time it was very serious.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati

Remember, nothing is ever black and white, there are always shades of grey.  It's not like there is one all supreme emperor of the world that all the power elite bow down to.  When you talk about the global power elite, we're talking about an ever growing, increasingly diverse assortment of people from different cultures who are in competion with each other.  They do not all get along.  Case in point, right now the Bushies are in power.  Bush and Kerry were both in the Scull and Bones secret society, this is a known fact.  They can both trace their bloodlines dirctly back to Charlemagne.  Basically, they're both "old money".  But obviously they are competetors.  You can't judge people as being guilty only by association.  But you can look at the actions of individuals such as John D. & David Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan., and the Serbian Black Hand Generals who started World War I among many others.