The World Economic Forum has released a report showing the United States in fourth place. Two years ago, the U.S. was ranked first.

In a letter to lawmakers, the National Cotton Council joined 25 other state and national agriculture groups in urging Congress to repeal the new rule, beginning in 2012, that requires organizations to report any purchase of at least $600 to the IRS.

A majority of those polled by Gallup agree with President Obama that Bush-era tax cuts for the rich should be phased out.

NOT QUITE ‘MORNING IN AMERICA,’ BUT...

With Congress set to get back to work Monday, there are signs that the Democrat-led Congress might be able to get something done before the election and that the economy won’t double-dip.

WaPo Scoop: Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) to provide likely 60th vote for Dems’ small-business bill next week. Lori Montgomery reports that the retiring senator “could no longer support Republican efforts to delay the measure in hopes of winning the right to offer additional amendments. Most of the proposed GOP amendments ‘didn't have anything to do with the bill’ anyway, Voinovich said, and amounted merely to partisan ‘messaging.’ ... ‘We don't have time for messaging,’ Voinovich said. ‘We don't have time anymore. This country is really hurting.’ ” http://bit.ly/9T5zgU

Also noteworthy: Voinovich said he wants to work with President Obama on a new six-year highway bill, which the administration called for this week.

September is looking far better than feared, now that the odds of another recession are receding, writes the WSJ’s Kelly Evans. http://bit.ly/dxK4r4

Weekly jobless claims hit a two-month low and the trade gap shrank, boosting markets Thursday. Reuters went with the headline 'Data shows economic recovery still on track.' http://yhoo.it/bPai1I

But... consumer spending dipped in August. Gallup: http://bit.ly/cZxgjo

And... job creation is still a problem, thanks in part to unusually high productivity, argues Fed senior economist Kenneth R. Beauchemin. The Atlantic: http://bit.ly/cCZ74Q

U.S. = JAPAN OR U.K.?

Paul Krugman says we’d be lucky to have Japan’s depressed-but-not depression economy, and we’ll surely be worse if the GOP takes over. “So I find myself almost envying the Japanese. Yes, their performance has been disappointing. But things could have been worse. And the case Democrats now need to make — the case the president finally began to make in Cleveland this week — is that if Republicans regain power, things will indeed be worse. Americans, understandably, are disappointed over, frustrated with and angry about the state of the economy; but disappointment is better than disaster.” http://nyti.ms/dh9EYm
       
COUNTERPOINT: The Economist’s economics editor Greg Ip says the U.S. is like Japan, but not really. Unlike its 1980s rival, the United States is comfortable with creative destruction. http://bit.ly/bt9IfH

David Brooks says our problem is that we’re becoming too soft: “If you look at America from this perspective, you do see something akin to the ‘British disease.’ After decades of affluence, the U.S. has drifted away from the hardheaded practical mentality that built the nation’s wealth in the first place.” http://nyti.ms/bUukil

Goolsbee to be nominated to be chairman of WH Council of Economic Advisers. He’d replace Christina Romer. http://nyti.ms/aFEPtt

Speaking of... Goolsbee was against the investment tax credits that President Obama is now pushing. JW Mason: http://bit.ly/d6sYwg

Megan McArdle takes Goolsbee’s argument to be yet another reason to oppose those credits as stimulus. http://bit.ly/93m16N

TAX CUTS UPDATE

Momentum builds for extending all of the Bush cuts, at least temporarily. The Hill: http://bit.ly/97Rc5d

The latest from Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.): "I support extending all of the expiring tax cuts until Nebraska’s and the nation’s economy is in better shape, and perhaps longer, because raising taxes in a weak economy could impair recovery.”

The RNC’s list of Dems for an extension of all the cuts: Sens. Nelson, Kent Conrad (N.D.), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Joe Lieberman (Conn.), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats; Reps. Gary Peters (Mich.), Gerry Connolly (Va.), Mike McMahon (N.Y.), Bobby Bright (Ala.), Ron Klein (Fla.), Jim Himes (Conn.), Harry Mitchell (Ariz.); Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink; and Missouri Senate candidate Robin Carnahan. (h/t Katie Wright)
 
Boehner offers “the Orszag compromise” to Dems: a temporary two-year extension of all the cuts. http://bit.ly/cEnPsR

Ezra Klein says if they’re extended just for two years, Republicans will be able to campaign on another extension in 2012. http://bit.ly/b4P9Lj

Bruce Bartlett says the sky won’t fall — and revenue will increase — if the top tax rate is allowed to rise to 39.6 percent. http://bit.ly/aCwIfZ

NYT profiles White House manufacturing czar Ron Bloom, who is trying to craft a policy to boost exports. The story includes a number of Ohio executives calling for more U.S. government intervention in markets, but Bloom is reluctant. “It is not government’s role to direct banks to lend to particular companies or industries,” he says. http://nyti.ms/dDaWSh

Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last year. WaPo: http://bit.ly/aL0GT9

Does Congress really need that many staffers? Cato asks: http://bit.ly/9bQGcn

But... government employment since 1976 has decreased. Calculated Risk. http://bit.ly/cVJEPm

Yet another Obama v. Paul Ryan write-up, this one by Jerry Seib. Takeaway: Ryan likes the business tax credits the president is pushing but vehemently opposes any rollback of the Bush-era tax cuts. http://bit.ly/cfj8mf

Budget impact story of the day: “Budget Woes Hit Defense Lawyers for the Indigent” http://nyti.ms/d9jO4k. “What you have is a situation where the eligible pool of clients is increasing, crime rates are potentially increasing, while the resources often for public defenders are going down.”

Around the World

U.S. wants developing economies (read: not Europe) to have more clout at the International Monetary Fund. http://nyti.ms/aC02ry

United Steelworkers files complaint with the U.S. Trade Representative against China, charging its government with unfairly subsidizing the Chinese green technology industry. http://bit.ly/dw95fK

Even Fidel Castro is talking up capitalism, notes Al Kamen. http://bit.ly/dkoovI

Austan Goolsbee is expected to be named as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) on Friday, according to White House officials.

Goolsbee, a 41-year-old University of Chicago economist, has already been confirmed by the Senate to serve as one of the three economists on the CEA, so President Obama can move him up to the head spot without another hearing.

Former Chairwoman Christina Romer left the job a week ago to return to a teaching position at the University of California at Berkeley so her son can attend high school.

Romer has expressed interest in becoming president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She would replace Janet Yellen, who is expected to join the Federal Reserve as a vice chairwoman.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday said President Obama doesn't need to issue a veto threat on the Bush tax cuts because Congress will pass a bill that only extends the breaks benefiting the middle class and not the wealthy. 

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) on Thursday added a second hearing to his investigation on China's exchange rate policy. 

Kenneth Feinberg said he didn't keep any of his government salary for overseeing compensation at firms that received bailout money.

The Tax Coalition on Thursday sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to extend all Bush-era tax cuts. 

The letter also discounts the argument posed by Democratic leaders that continuing the Bush tax cuts only for the middle class will have little effect on small businesses.