Wall Street’s great debate — a Fed rate cut — is back in the spotlight.

This time, it’s not whether the Jerome Powell-led central bank will act at its September meeting but rather the size of the cut: 25 basis points or 50.

The case for a 50 basis point reduction has grown louder in recent weeks as a weakening jobs market has prompted calls for more aggressive Fed action to avoid further economic deterioration.

Yet despite the hand-wringing and doomsday scenarios, strategists and economists told me last week a 50 basis point cut would send the wrong message to the market — one that signals the central bank is too late to act.

"A 50 basis point cut would reek of panic, and it's almost like we're totally behind the curve at this point," BMO Capital Markets senior economist Jennifer Lee warned.

She added, “We're tapping on the brakes ... But the fact that the US economy has held up all this time speaks to the resilience of it all.”

Lee pointed to the upwardly revised second quarter GDP, resilient consumer spending, and lack of mass layoffs among factors supporting her call for a more measured approach, adding a soft landing is “in the cards.”

A larger cut could also raise the alarm for investors. Yardeni Research’s Eric Wallerstein told me a jumbo cut would likely spark volatility and signal the economy is “heading in the wrong direction.”

"For everyone who's asking for a 50 basis point cut, I think they should really reconsider the amount of volatility that would cause in short-term funding markets,” Wallerstein said.

Read more: Fed predictions for 2024: What experts say about the possibility of a rate cut

The pair of veteran assessments are in line with that of Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius, who told Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi last week that he expects a series of 25 basis point rate cuts (though he didn't completely rule out a 50 basis point cut next week).

With less than a week until the Fed decision, traders are pricing in near-even odds of a 25 versus 50 basis point cut. As of Friday, the probability of a 50 basis point cut rose to 49%, up from 30% one week ago.

At the heart of the rate cut debate is the risk of a recession, a concern that’s plagued Wall Street for years.

Longtime market strategist Jim Paulsen told me on Opening Bid (video above; listen here) that the ongoing fear of recession isn’t necessarily a reflection of deteriorating economic prints. Rather, it's attributable to multiple factors: the shock of the pandemic, the polarizing political environment, and the breakdown of recession forecasting tools.