I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do, however, think there is a loose association of moneyed interests which pushes an agenda that is counterproductive to ordinary people. It's an agenda of profit over people, of business needs over human needs, etc. It is not hidden away in some dark room. It is visible, generally reported on, and mostly operating in the open. It is even, in many cases, in accord with what people want. These interests, after all, bring us products and services. But when they push for government favors for themselves and cutting programs that don't help them, then people need to vote and organize to defeat them.

As for the federal reserve, yes, they have the power accorded to them by law and it is extensive.  Does it enslave us? Is it controlled by the rich? These questions might as well be "does society enslave us?" and "is society controlled by the rich?". To some extent the answer is yes. All societies and their institutions restrict people in some way. They are also, as noted above, controlled to some extent by the rich. But that doesn't mean you are a slave or are controlled by a cabal. You also have power and ordinary people, acting democratically, have made things happen for themselves. There's a continuum here and these questions, as posed, presume an extreme which is a bit of a stretch.

Some may argue that JFK was killed by the CIA since he was ready to not only dismantle them but also stop borrowing debt from the Federal Reserve and issue debt directly from the US Treasury.

Yet others may say that forcing 3rd world nations to accept a banking infrastructure created by the International Monetary Fund is another way for the ruling elite to impose their will on us.

I figure that with distributed ledger technologies, we can attempt to ignore the entrenched interests of the current rulers of the financial world and create our own.

However, ignoring them is not truly an option as they are quick to co-opt blockchain technologies for uses in permissioned ledgers.  They have the means to market this altered form of the blockchain to the masses and are currently doing so.

There are many ways that we can (peacefully) fight (and win).  Education is one.  Building community is another.  Co-opting their ideas and marketing strategies for our use cases is a third way.  We must be prepared to dig and hold the trenches while making our own advancement on the battlefront.

This is our territory.  Let's defend it.

At least it is possible to create such models from the available evidence. If you look at the world through such a lens, you will find lots of evidence to support the theory. 

Personally I like to first evaluate the usefulness of any possible information to myself before spending lots of time digging for it. If such a Cabal existed, what would I do with the knowledge? I would spend more time away from manipulation; with my family and in the nature. That's what I do anyway, so I consider it useless for myself to spend lots of time on this topic.

That doesn't directly answer your question, but it's my point of view on the subject. I hope to see some good conversation about this too.

I don't think it can be denied any longer when world leaders openly call for a "New World Order", the Central Banks do control the monetary systems worldwide for the most part and if a country attempts to avoid it, well we'll see them on CNN getting bombed to hell sooner or later or their leader assassinated so a puppet can be installed. 

It's not a "belief" or a "conspiracy theory", it's quite simply a fact. To deny it these days simply shows others that the individual is still brainwashed and wants to continue sipping the Kool-Aid.