he can speak to rural america. do you think that's overstated? >> no, not at all. i mean, tim walz is the epitome of the midwestern dad. you could put him at any state fair on any main street and certainly in a friday night football game in rural kansas and he would fit right in. i think we also need to remember that, while minnesota is a blue state, he represented in congress for 12 years a very red section of minnesota, so he understand rural minnesota, he understand rural america, and i think that is one of the reasons he's a huge asset to the harris-walz team. >> so your state was one of the first to put the issue of abortion on a state ballot to leave it to the voters to decide and those voters overwhelmingly

rejected restrictions, so democrats often point to your state as proof of concept that this is a galvanizing issue across party lines. but i found it interesting in interviews that you've said, you try not to talk about abortion. are democrats miscalculating by putting it front and center? >> no, i don't think so. i think -- i didn't put it front and center because it wasn't an issue i could deal with. it was a ballot issue. those issues do right around me and on to the ballot and to the people. i decided it was better for me to let the people decide what they wanted to do with that and for me to continue to focus on the other issues where i actually could have impact, you know, on our infrastructure, our economic development, on our schools, so -- but we can see in other states where governors have come out very aggressively

supporting women's reproductive rights, michigan, for instance, comes to mind, and it has worked. you know, they have moved the needle in michigan and other states because they have focused on that issue, and whether we want it to be an issue or not, it is, and i think it will be an issue in the presidential race this year, too. >> i read that you said one of the reasons you personally tried not to talk about it was not just procedural, but also because you said democrats are getting drawn in to hot button culture war issues, and you said you don't want to get dragged into conversations you don't want to have. what do you mean by that? >> well, i don't want to get distracted by issues that take us away from the core issues that a governor is responsible for, and that is just what i said before. you've got to make sure your schools are funded, you got to make sure your roads are built,

you've got to make sure you're building your economy. you've got to make sure you're fixing your child welfare system. we've got all sort of other things we need to be focused on, and what i found, particularly during my campaigns, is that the -- my opponents wanted to use cultural socially divisive issues to distract from the real issues because they didn't have answers for that. >> well, governor, it will be interesting to see if you can replicate your success and we will track what is happening, not just in kansas, but in some of these other gubernatorial races around the country. we'll be right back. ns and their families with life-changing programs and services. i faced my ptsd, and i'm a better husband and father because of it. we help warriors get the expert care and support to thrive. i got involved. i got healthier. i got to be an athlete again. through our programs, community and advocacy, we're proving

anything is possible. learn more at wounded warriorproject.org/connect are you tired of your hair breaking after waiting years for it to grow? new pantene with more pro-vitamins, plus biotin & collagen. repairs as well as the leading luxury bonding brand. stronger, healthier hair, without the $60 price tag. if you know, you know it's pantene. >> at university of maryland global campus, getting a bachelor's degree doesn't have to mean starting from scratch.

here you can earn up to 90 undergraduate credits for relevant experience. what will your next success be? we're joined now by the ceo of bank of america, brian moynihan. good to have you here. >> great to be here again, margaret. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> this is a week we had a lot of turbulence in the financial markets and some jitters here.

we know that both presidential campaigns in the coming days will outline their vision for the economy. i'm hoping you can level-set for us what is the reality of what you are seeing with american consumers right now? >> well, in our consumer base of 60 million customers spending every week, what you are seeing is they're spending at a rate of growth this year over last year for july and august so far, about 3%. that is half the rate it was than last year at this time. the consumer has slowed down. they have money in their accounts about us depleting a little bit. they're employed and earning money but they've slowed down. the fed is in a position to be careful that they don't slow down too much. right now where they are spending is consistent where they've spent in 17, 18, 19, low inflation, more normal growth economy. >> i saw in one of your bank of america reports you alluded to this, more price sensitivity and that savings accounts are being diminished. >> yeah. >> that would suggest people

really are not bringing in enough that they have to go into their savings. is this all just inflation that's pressuring? >> if you look across different segments of earnings power, the answers are somewhat different, but if you look at it overall, there's been a lot of money moved to instruments that pay higher interest rates out of accounts, cleaned up from 0% interest to 5% interest. the people who had an account with us in january 2020 before the pandemic, look at them now, they're sitting with much more even inflation adjusted much more in their account. the problem is, it's started drifting down, they're using that money now to maintain a lifestyle. that's not unusual in the summer months because of travel and vacations and everything. where the money is being spent is on those type of experiences. if you look within it they're still going to restaurants and they're taking travel but on the other hand spending a -- going to food stores the same number of times, but spending less which means they're finding bar begins and things like that.

corporations cut price to respond to that. it's the way the economy works and it's slowing down. that's where we have to be careful because we won the war on inflation and it's come down, but we have to be careful we don't get so perfect we put us in recession. we have a great team at bank of america research that doesn't have any recession predicament. last year it was a recession, this year now there's no recession and basically they say we go to 2% growth to 1.5% growth over the next six quarters and bump along. >> they're betting in september the federal reserve does go ahead with an interest rate cut. >> i think that's the market consensus is actually more cuts than our team is. ours is two this year, september, december, four next year and a couple next year. but i think one of the concepts out there is the concept of higher for longer. our team and most people think we'll settle at 3, 3.5% fed funds rate, different than the last 15 or 17 years that people have lived it. people came into the business

world in 2007 and 2008 have not seen this interest rate environment and we're getting back to normal thand et and tha going to take a while for people to adjust to. >> so i'm not asking you a political question here, the federal reserve is set up by congress as politically neutral. it has to deal with employment and stabilizing prices. this past week, donald trump was asked if, as president, he could manage a soft landing of the economy with the current federal reserve leadership in place. here is how he responded. >> i feel a president should have at least say in there, yeah. i feel that strongly. i think that in my case, i made a lot of money, i was very successful and i think i have a better instinct than in many cases people on the federal reserve or the chairman. >> the chairman was appointed by donald trump, jerome powell, andens to serve. but what he's talking about now

is political leaders influencing or overriding economists in setting the fed funds rate and interests. what would be the implication of that? >> if you look around the world economies and see where fed central banks are independent and operate freely they tend to fair better than ones that don't. that's the american way. does that stop people fromming giving chair powell advice or other people? no. i give him advice. we call give him advice. you have to be careful when he goes up and does the humphrey hawkins he gets lots of advice. their job is to sort through it and say what's best for the u.s. economy on those two dimensions you talked about and be consistent. i think right now brian moynihan is going to be more careful to the downside and moving rates to restore a feeling that there's light at the end of the tunnel. they told people rates aren't going to go up, but if they don't take it down soon you could disspirit the american

consumer. once the american consumer starts going negative it's hard to get them back. the high rate environment is slowing down commercial progress. they're -- they've gone backwards and used lines of credit. why don't they use a line of credit? there is an opportunity or the cost is high or both. right now that's a little bit thy're worried about the future. right now it's time for them to start to take the -- become a little more accommodative and take off the restrictions and let the thing -- i'm giving them advice and everybody dubz and the strong central bank has to take that and process it. >> it's not unusual to hear some of the populist ideas but one thing i've heard from jamie dimon of jpmorgan and you of bank of america the concern when you send checks to people, as we discussed with jd vance, when you talk about now taxing tips as now both campaigns are doing, that there is still that hard question of, how does america deal with the debts and deficits it already has?

those conversations aren't happening. what does that cost? >> well, i think right now the cost is not that high. i mean there's a mathematical cost as interest rates go up the debt carry cost goes up for the government and consumer and the economy. that could have been used for something else had they not borrowed so much. was there more stimulus applied to the covid issues than needed and the answer is yes by most economists. we have to let that work out of the system. that helped inflation. it happened on both administration's watch. the third question is this question of handling the debt and at the end of the day, 15 years or so ago, the bowles-simpson commission came out with ways to do it. idea to raise tax, the response to the business community if you're going to raise taxes for what? pay down debt. individuals and companies say i got that. we had to wage a war on covid, won the war, but we can't just raise taxes and stuff that doesn't provide for productivity or frankly help manage the debt.

and that's the concern people will have. that will be a food fight of high order for the next few months. >> we will be talking about that as we go into 2025 and the expiration of some of the tax policies. brian moynihan great to have you here. >> always great to be here. >> we'll be back in a moment. (vo) with fargo, the new virtual assistant from wells fargo, you can pick up the tab even when you forget your wallet. (kaz) i got this. (ben) fargo, send kaz $145 dollars with zelle®. (kaz) smooth. (vo) want faster, easier banking? you can, with wells fargo. what else can fargo do? (woman) oh, come on! come on! (vo) fargo lets you do this: (woman) fargo, turn off my debit card! i found it! i found my card! (vo) and also, this:

(woman) fargo, turn on my debit card! (vo) do you fargo? you can, with wells fargo. [phone beeping and vibrating] [phone beeping and vibrating] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ when your bedroom has everything you need... it's okay to give everything else a rest. welcome to the goodnight club. find your dream bedroom at ikea.

tensions are high in the middle east where fears of an expanding regional war are growing a week after israel killed a top hamas leader in iran and two hezbollah commanders. we go to retired general frank mckenzie the former commander of u.s. forces in the middle east. good to have you back. >> good to be here, margaret. >> we've talked a number of times in recent months and the scenario you have flagged is the most concerning is one it seems we're on the brink of, that is, lebanese hezbollah entering this conflict potentially in a significant way. how do you characterize where we are right now? >> margaret, i think we are hours, maybe days, not weeks away from lebanese hezbollah entering this fight and that's always been the big variable. they are the largest nonstate

military entity in the world, parasite on lebanon, but they have tens of thousands of highly accurate rockets and missiles and they can challenge israel in a way that iran and the houthis for that matter are unable to do so because of their geographic proximity, the number of weapons that they have, and that's very concerning. i've thought all along the most dangerous turn in events would be if they chose to enter at scale. now, has san us in rula has to make a decision because he will be open to a witherig israeli counter attack should he choose to enter that great scale. what would great scale be? we don't know. if he chooses to attack population centers, significant casualties are caused by a hezbollah attack, that will bring the idf in, back in, with great force. he recognizes that and the last point i just make is, has san us in rula are weaker in lebanon in

many years because of the destruction of the economy, the pact the country is in governmental gridlock, lots of problems he has to think about before he chooses to fight israel toe to toe. >> that is something the diplomats trying to cool things off are very aware of. your successor centcom command general was twice in israel this past week. the united states has sent f-22 jets to the region. what do you expect the scope of u.s. involvement to be? >> i think we saw a taste of that last april in iran's 13 april attack on israel which was not a successful attack and it was not successful for several reasons, one of which was israeli confidence. the second was u.s. assistance and some assistance from other nations in the region. all of those things blunt and really turn aside the iranian attack. i think that general carillo will strive to represent the

same capabilities and approach this time. it will be a significantly harder task, though, again if lebanese hezbollah chooses to enter because now you face a multiaxis attack. iranian from the east, lebanese hezbollah from the north. i'm sure hamas will chime in to the limits of their ability and the houthis will come in. what will be a significant test for israel we are committed to their defense. i think that central command has done a great job of assisting them as they prepare for this attack which i believe is imminent. >> is imminent. you would expect to see u.s. jets in the air there intercepting as they did last time? >> i think we would see the same model that was used last time. now, here's the thing. the iranians and lebanese hezbollah have had the opportunity to study that template, and i'm sure they will try to make adjustments that will make it more difficult. on the other hand we are an adaptive learning organization and looking at our tactics and we've got very good commanders that can fight an air battle and it will be a battle that's going to be fought and i think we can

be very successful here. >> do you think the u.s. strategy of trying to focus in on august 15th and cease-fire in gaza should still be the centerpiece for lowering tensions throughout the region? >> certainly we should try to get to some post-conflict state in gaza. that's an objective that needs to be there regardless of whatever else is going on in the region. i'm not certain, though, that the current iranian efforts against israel are directly elated to what's going on in gaza. you know, the iranians fundamental to iranian philosophy of life is destruction of the state of israel. we should take them at their word on this. they're not going to attack or come into conflict of israel because of what's going on in gaza. their reasons are the existence of israel itself and those transcend anything going on in gaza. >> sir, before i let you go, august 15th is the anniversary of the taliban seizing control of afghanistan a few years ago. i wonder what you think about

u.s. security currently? >> well, i think about it a lot, margaret. three years on, our ability to see inside afghanistan is quite limited. the violent extremist organizations characterized by isis-k and other groups we believe they're actually expanding. they carried out a successful attack in russia a few months ago. i am concerned about the growth of those organizations, and i'm concerned about the relative lack of our ability to see what they're doing and act against them should it prove necessary to do so. i think we're in a weaker state now than a year ago or two years ago, and i am concerned about the future. >> general, always good to talk to you and we'll all be on edge as you said for the coming days. thank you. and thanks to all of you out there for watching us. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. my secret? i'm the sweatiest person on the rugby team. but you smell fresh as a swiss spa. i know right?! it's secret outlast. it gives you 72-hours

of odor protection. secret outlast. official deodorant of team usa. i told you it lasted a long time.

introducing togo's new barbecue beef sandwich. it's piled high with tender beef that's slow cooked and smothered in tangy memphis style barbecue sauce. it's no fuss, no muss. just tons of flavor. the best barbecue beef is only a togo's. try one today.

♪ ♪ (vo) with wells fargo premier, a team can help you plan for your dreams. so your dream car, and vacation home, may be closer than you think. ready to meet the dream team? you can with wells fargo.

(vo) with wells fargo premier, a team can help you plan for your dreams. so your dream car, and vacation home, may be closer than you think. ready to meet the dream team? you can with wells fargo. it's a dangerous -- he's a genuine danger to american security. look, we're at an inflection point in world history. we really are.

the decisions we make in the last three, four years and the next three, four years are going to determine what the next six decades look like. and democracy is the key. and that's why i went down and made that speech at the johnson center about the supreme court. the supreme court is so out of whack. so out of whack. and so i propose that we limit terms to 18 years so -- anyway. there's little regard by the maga republicans for political institutions. that's what holds this country together. that's what democracy's about. that's who we are as a nation. >> mr. president, thank you. >> thank you. i appreciate it. it's an honor to be with you. >> that was robert costa with president biden. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

this summer a lot of communities had a difficult time finding enough lifeguards.

the trouble dates back to the pandemic, when pools shut down, thousands of prospective recruits missed out on training and certification, and most just found other jobs. some pools and beaches are turning to drone technology to help fill the ranks. kris van cleave reports. >> reporter: this summer two young paddleboarders ended up 2,000 feet from the shore of oak island, north carolina. but rescuers had eyes on them the whole time thanks to a drone and brought them to safety. shawn barry is a firefighter turned drone pilot. >> so this drone is capable of flying in all types of weather and environments. >> reporter: it's equipped with a camera that can switch to infrared to spot people in distress. responders can talk through a speaker, and it can also carry life-preserving equipment. >> this is triggered by a co2 cartridge and has a triggering avice that's activated by the intrusion of water. and as soon as it's activated it inflates. >> reporter: here's a real-life example of a swimmer in distress. you can see the moment one cartridge was released and then another, giving him two floating

tubes until help arrived. every year there are about 100 deaths due to rip currents along u.s. beaches. it's estimated more than 80% of beach rescues involve rip currents. >> reporter: lee price is oak island's fire chief. >> you think people underestimate the force of a rip >> they do. people go i'm a good swimmer, i'm going to go out there. and then they get in trouble. >> reporter: chief price says it also prevents putting rescuers in harm's way when they can determine that someone isn't in distress. >> why aren't more jurisdictions do you think adopting something like this right away? >> cost i don't know is necessarily a factor because the cost isn't tremendous. but having somebody trained and able to operate and perform that capability, it's like anything. as technology advances, it takes a little bit for everybody to catch up and get used to it. >> reporter: in this demonstration shawn barry showed us how it can bring a safety rope to a swimmer. >> the speed and accuracy that this gives you -- >> rapid deployment, speed,

accuracy, and safety overall. >> reporter: it's an eye in the sky and a potential life saver in the water. for "cbs mornings" manuel bojorquez, oak island, north carolina. >> and that's today's "cbs news roundup." for some of you the news continues. for others tune in later for "cbs mornings" and follow us online 24/7 at cbsnews.com. reporting from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm matt pieper. ♪