David Farr, CEO at Emerson Electric, is putting the muscle on his people to contribute to Akin’s senatorial campaign. Whether they decide to give is all voluntary, of course (wink, wink). In his letter to employees, Farr writes that the decision “will have no impact on your employment with Emerson.” Next, he says they should contact the company’s D.C. office as to “whether or not you plan to attend [Akin’s fundraiser] and the amount of your donation.”

Some extortionists are smoother than others. Some can skip the baseball bats. Especially if they have a reputation. And Farr does.

Mr. Farr has aggressively moved Emerson production and design operations to low-cost, low-regulation environments outside the United States, particularly the People’s Republic of China. Under Mr. Farr’s leadership, Emerson laid off 14% of its U.S. workforce in 2009, eliminating nearly 20,000 jobs. While speaking at the Baird Industrial Outlook Conference in Chicago, in November 2009, Mr. Farr attacked the Obama administration for its attention to “labor rules” and “health reform”, and stated: “What do you think I’m going to do? I’m not going to hire anyone in the United States. I’m moving.”

Tough guy. And it’s paid off for Emerson. The company has prospered under Farr’s guidance. Yes indeedy, it has.

He was also named one of the Top 25 Managers in 2000.[9] Emerson has been awarded as well under Farr’s management having been named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens in 2004. Institutional Investor magazine named David Farr,CEO of Emerson EMR, one of The Best CEOs in America in the electrical equipment and multi-industry in 2008. category.

Farr is a living symbol of the U.S. in the late twentieth-early twenty-first centuries. Corporate moguls prosper as they ship our jobs abroad and then buy politicians to keep the arrangement running smoothly. They sip cognac at their homes in Ladue and sneer at any yokels who don’t admire Todd Akin.