In early October, President Barack Obama made it clear that he wanted a vote on his new American Jobs Act by the end of the month. With the economy suffering and the unemployment rate holding steady at around nine percent, many agree that something must be done.
John Shea, an associate professor in the university’s economics department, believes that the American Jobs Act would definitely help to fix the economy and unemployment.
“The consensus among economists would be that it would by itself have a modest beneficial effect on the unemployment rate,” said Shea, noting it would lower unemployment by .2 to .3 percent.
Shea also pointed out that in the complex world economy, the jobs act is not the only push and pull on the market.
“There is no guarantee that after the bill [is] passed that the unemployment rate [will] fall because there are so many other events going on in the economy that [can] overwhelm the effects of the stimulus,” said Shea, mainly referring to the financial crisis in Greece.
Frances E. Lee, a university professor on American Politics, doubts that the bill will be passed.
“I don’t think it’s realistic at all,” said Lee, pointing out the fact that there is a lack of unity amongst Democrats in the Senate, and the Republicans control the House.
“It’s only natural for the President’s partisan opponents to not want to give something to the President that he can claim as a political victory,” Lee said.
While Shea and most economists believe that a government stimulus right now is the correct move, Lee says that is not how the Republicans feel.
“There is just a great deal of skepticism among Republicans that more spending from the government will promote jobs,” Lee said.
Both Shea and Lee believe that parts of the bill will be passed while others are cut.
“It’s better than nothing,” said Shea, adding that he thinks the economy will be much worse if congress cannot come together to cut the national deficit.
If the Supercommitee of 12, six Republicans and six democrats, cannot come to an agreement before Nov. 23, it will trigger budget cuts to defense and domestic programs, which Shea believes would be detrimental to the economy.