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After a dismal winter, where the economy contracted 2.1%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 4% in the second quarter of this year.

The New York Times reported that the initial estimate for the second quarter, the government cited a major advance in inventories for private businesses, higher government spending at the state and local level and personal consumption spending as chief contributors to growth. Economists, who had been hoping for a full reversal of the first quarter’s decline, were cheered by the second quarter’s numbers. The consensus forecast for G.D.P. was 3 percent.

The times continued to report, the latest numbers prompted a debate among economists looking to the future, some of whom consider the gains as merely corrections for an unusually bleak quarter. They noted that while inventories improved significantly in the spring and contributed to the rise in G.D.P., those gains can be extremely volatile. Other economists are more optimistic and see the second-quarter growth as a sign the economy is finally set to shake off the post-recession sluggishness and expand at a healthy clip for the rest of the year. Among those with a sunnier outlook are economists at Barclays, who are forecasting 2.5% growth rate for second half of 2014.

The question, will the Federal Reserve continue to curtail its bond-buying stimulus program?

Reuters News Service reported, the central bank is widely expected to cut its monthly asset purchases to $25 billion from $35 billion, which would leave it on course to shutter the program this fall.

MSN reported that policy makers tapered monthly bond buying to $25 billion in their sixth consecutive $10-billion cut, staying on pace to end the purchase program in October. Fed officials led by Chair Janet Yellen are stepping up a debate over when to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 as unemployment falls faster than expected and inflation picks up toward their 2 percent goal.

The president highlighted the news of the GDP numbers at a campaign stop in Kansas city, “This morning, we found out that in the second quarter of this year our economy grew at a strong pace, and businesses are investing, workers are building new homes, consumers are spending, America is exporting goods around the world.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement, “Any positive signs for our economy are welcome, but a jobless recovery is not what the American people were promised. President Obama and his economic team said the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ would create jobs immediately and keep the unemployment rate below eight percent. Since then, roughly three million jobs have been lost and unemployment has risen to near 10 percent.”

Boehner continued, “For millions of out-of-work families struggling to make ends meet, this recession feels far from over. Yet even now, after the Obama Administration’s top economist has stated that the ‘stimulus’ already had its greatest impact on the economy, Washington Democrats are intent on staying the course and trying to spend, tax, and borrow their way to prosperity. Republicans have proposed fiscally responsible solutions to help small businesses create good-paying jobs and get our economy moving again.”

Neither party should claim credit for the sudden increase in the GDP, as the economy grew in spite of anything that Washington put forward.

To really spur the economy forward, it’s time to reach a bi-partisan comprehensive tax overhaul of the chaotic tax code, which would really spur economic growth.  Unfortunately, that will not happen as both parties are rallying their base leading up to the November’s mid-term election.