Yesterday, Sen. McCain suspended his campaign to rush back to Washington to do something about the economic crisis our country is in, and proposed postponing or canceling the debate on Friday evening.

A survey that came out soon afterwards found that 86% of respondents believed the debate should go on as scheduled. I would suggest that the current economic crisis makes the debates all the more important.

50% of the respondents believed the debate should go on, with no changes, and another 36% believed the debate should go on with a special focus on the economy. Count me as being in that later group.

We need to have a serious discussion in this country about our economy. The first question should be, are we really in a crisis? If so, what sort of crisis are we in?

I was working at Lehman Brothers in 1987 when the stock market crashed. The Dow ended the day down 508 points. Of course the Dow was much lower then, so it translates to a 23% drop. On September 15th, when the news about Lehman and AIG hit, the Dow ended up down 504 points, or 4%. So, why is this a crisis demanding a $700 billion bailout and Presidential candidates suspending their campaigns?

It has been suggested it is because of liquidity. We’ve seen liquidity dry up in the commercial paper market. Yet that was already addressed by a different action by the Fed. So, let’s have a real debate about how serious the current economic crisis is.

George Soros has provided his comments here. Friends and I have talked in emails about 1987 and the differences.

Then, if we are in a crisis that demands immediate and massive action, let’s have a serious debate about what sort of action is most beneficial, not only for the short term concerns, but longer term as well. I touched on this in my blog post $700 billion = A million good jobs for ten years.

Let’s debate how we would best spend $700 billion, if that sort of money really needs to be spent.

If we are in a crisis, then we need serious discussions to get everyone to understand the nature of the crisis and how best to respond. If we aren’t in a crisis, then we shouldn’t be cutting and running from a debate. Either way, let’s have that debate.