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> Take Vanguard or Fidelity for example, they "control" a vast amount of money, but all they do with it is track indices on behalf of their retail customers.

Control or power doesn't disappear, any more than mass-energy does - if Vanguard or Fidelity aren't controlling the billions in index funds, then who is?

The answer should be obvious: whomever decides who to include in an index. This is part of the reason public companies are so eager to be listed in the Dow or Nasdaq or S&P 500; they know that listing guarantees demand from the many index trackers etc.



> Control or power doesn't disappear, any more than mass-energy does - if Vanguard or Fidelity aren't controlling the billions in index funds, then who is?

The investors who own shares in the mutual funds?


Mutual fund investors no more affect the decision of the fund managers - and certainly not the indices' management - than does a random voter in even a swing state.


Exactly. A fund is in a very real sense a democracy. You 'vote' for a fund manager's decisions by investing and vote against by withdrawing.




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