“We got a decent boost from the stimulus, which hit the economy at a time when we really needed it,” said Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner. “It will have less of an impact going forward, though and we may even have a payback in the fourth quarter.”

I am very skeptical of their revised numbers. Remember, we are at the height of a Presidential campaign with the election less than 90 days away and the economy has become priority number 1 in voter’s minds. We all like to hear good news, but I just don’t put much faith in the latest government sponsored economic numbers.

“GDP, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity, stood at an annual rate of 3.3% in the quarter, adjusted for inflation, the Commerce Department said.

Economic growth between 2.5% and 3.5% is typically viewed as the norm for a healthy economy.

The revised result surpassed last month’s initial estimate of 1.9%. It also surprised economists surveyed by Briefing.com who expected a revision to 2.7%.

Personal spending helped add 1.2% to the second-quarter preliminary GDP reading released Thursday, up from the advanced reading of 1% for the quarter and just 0.6% in the first quarter.”

However, everyone cannot be a “winner” in the manner our environment has taught us. We are all losers in the sense of debt. Eventually, there will be a breaking point. It will either come at the expense of businesses failing or the government stepping in to prop up the failing economy. As you have seen, we are seeing both happen. It has to be one or the other, doing both only softens the immediate pain, but the long term effect will still be waiting for us.