>> don't punish our industry for doing its job well. create energy and tax policies that make our country a more attractive place to do business. >> susie: big oil c.e.o.s were on the hot seat on capitol hill, defending their companies' tax breaks amid high gasoline prices. >> tom: but some lawmakers ththk the plan t tenenthose tax brbrks amootstso o ththg more than n dog and pony show. you're watching "nightly business report" for thursday, may 12. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. big oil and big tax breaks made for a volatile combination on capitol hill today, susie. >> susie: tom, c.e.o.s from the five biggest oil companies were there, defending their big profits and tax rates. the top execs from exxon mobil, shell, b.p., chevron and conoco phillips all came before a congressional committee. >> tom: those oil companies went on the defensive, thanks to a democratic effort to repeal their tax rates. republican senators were quick to point out that changing the tax rates of big oil companies wouldn't help the country's debt problem.

and as darren gersh reports, the hearing was contentious and, mostly, political theater. >> reporter: the oil executives took an aggressive stance, vigorously defending what they pay in taxes, saying the tax breaks they get are the same ones given to other manufacturers. >> singling our five companies because of their size is more troubling. such measures are anti- competitive and discriminatory. don't punish our industry for doing it's job well. >> reporter: in the first quarter, the major oil companies did very well, earning $35 billion in profits! when these companies testified together before congress in 2005, oregon's ron wyden asked if the industry needed incentives to drill and the companies answered no. today, he repeated the question. >> if your company didn't need incentives to drill for oil at $55 a barrel, how in the world can you possibly need incentives when oil is at $100 a barrel? >> reporter: conoco-phillips' c.e.o. james mulva said the

world has changed. >> we look at the past, and the easy-to-find oil has been found. our costs go up, our taxes have gone up. oil is more difficult to find, our costs have changed. >> reporter: the oil executives argued prices at the pump would rise and jobs would be lost if congress makes it more expensive for them to do business. but max baucus, the chairman of the senate finance committee, says oil company financial statements tell a different story. companies' 2010 profits went to >> nearly 60% of these companies' 2010 profits went to stock buybacks and to dividends, not to job creation. we can put this money to better use, i believe, and we should. we should use this money to reduce our deficit instead of putting the burden on seniors and our children's futures. >> reporter: a better way to raise revenue, the executives said, would be to open more land in the u.s. to oil exploration. they argued that would add jobs and bring in revenue for the federal government.

exxon c.e.o. rex tillerson added raising taxes will do nothing to counter the pain at the pump. >> increasing these companies' taxes would only discriminate against certain u.s. workers, make our companies less competitive against others who are in the same business, and discourage future energy investment. >> reporter: democrats know their bill doesn't have enough votes to overcome republican opposition to raising taxes on oil companies, but analysts say pressure to repeal industry tax breaks worth $2 billion a year will grow if gas prices stay high. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> susie: still ahead, we continue our series "pumped up prices" with a look at how higher diesel prices are eating away at profits at mobile businesses. >> tom: here are the stories in tonight's "n.b.r. newswheel." oil prices rose in volatile trading today. light sweet crude settled at $98.97 in new york.

trader anthony grisanti says crude prices could fall even lower in the months ahead. >> when i look at crude oil down the road, i see, in the short term-- say, in the next two to three months-- i see it testing some recent lows, say the $90 area, the $85 area. but long term, i believe the economy improves... i believe the economy improves around the world, and i think, long term, you want to be a buyer of crude oil, and by "long term," i mean a year down the road. >> tom: stocks rebounded with commodities. the dow gained nearly 66 points, the nasdaq added 18, and the s&p 500 up 6.5 points. big board volume dipped a touch from yesterday's pace to 950 million shares; nasdaq volume holding steady at 2.2 billion. recovery in the labor market remains slow. the number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell by a less than the forecast 44,000 last week.

consumers spent more on gasoline, clothing and cars last month, boosting retail sales for a tenth straight month. but much of the gain came from a surge in gas prices. retail sales rose five-tenths of a percent, but excluding gasoline, the increase was much smaller. >> susie: what are the characteristics of a great leader? a new book has some answers to this age-old question-- "no fear of failure: real stories of how leaders deal with risk and change." the author joins us now-- gary burnison, the c.e.o. of korn- ferry, the worlds largest executive recruiting firm. hi, nice to have you with us, gary. >> great to be here skuz well, you know, as people think of leadership they connect the word success, you have a different twist on it, a no fear of failure, what does that mean, exactly? >> well, it means, you know, failure is failing to fail. that with leaders, there's this inner serenity that they know that at some point

they'll fail. but they can bridge between success and failure. and they do it through courage and learning and confidence. >> susie: you interviewed a lot of very interesting people one-on-one for this book. you know, just to tick off some of the names. michael bloomberg, the mayor of new york, end ra nyooi of pepsi. admiral kc ca, hi of xerox, carlos slim, the richest man in the world. it is a very amazing group of people. as you step away from what they told you, what does make a great leader? >> well, you know, it's not so much what they said, it was how they made you feel. and to the person, you could look in their eyes and see their soul. you could see their heart. and then really that's what leadership is about. it's about empowering and inspiring and rewarding and celebrating. and you know, that's what people want. people want to be part of

something and they want to be developed. >> susie: when i was looking at your book, there were a lot of lessons, really fascinating stories, is there think one that really resonated that sends, gives our viewers an idea about leadership? >> well, i'll tell you, somebody that was off the beaten path, john mckissich in south carolina. the most winning football coach ever. more wins than vince lombardi, amazing. you know, he says i don't coach football, i coach kids. and he had 576 wins when i saw him, has a ring that has 500 on it. goes to the jewelry store and the jeweller says listen, i want to give you one. can't wait to give you one that says 600 ton. he says you know, i just want one that says 577. and that's so much about leadership. being able to look over the horizon but focus on today. >> susie: you've said that the requirements of being c.e.o. these days is very different. what are the traits that companies are looking for? >> you know, you got to have a global mind-set.

think about where the consumers are in the world. and these emerging markets that have emerged. so you've got to be able to move workforces across cultures. you need to live in more than one place, speak more than one language. and not necessarily look at america as the center. >> susie: this is a time of graduations, is there any quick piece of advice that you can give young graduates who are going out into the job market? >> follow your passion. don't give up. you know, you got to network, network, network. and you know, if all else fails, you know, do something. whether it's not for profit, something that gets you engaged. that gets you to build your relationship and your net worth. >> susie: very interesting thought. thank you so much, gary, and good luck with your book. >> thank you. >> susie: we've been speaking with gary burnison, the c.e.o. of korn-ferry. >> tom: the white house and congress today ramped up talks on a deficit reduction deal. president obama met with republican lawmakers, who gave

him a series of proposals, including spending caps and cuts to medicaid and medicare. not on that list? tax increases. across town on capitol hill, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke warned lawmakers not to play politics with the nation's debt ceiling. bernanke testified about the fed's plan to implement new financial regulations. he told lawmakers the central bank will roll out new rules this summer to help avoid another meltdown of banks and financial firms. the public will weigh in on the new rules before they're due to take effect in january.

>> tom: after slipping this morning, the major stock indices were able to climb into positive territory. let's get to tonight's "market focus." investors bought a combination of stocks sheltered from commodity prices, but also companies on the front lines of volatile raw material prices. for instance, tyson foods. this stock led the consumer staples sector, which was the strongest area in the s&p 500. shares rebounded 4.6%. this is the past 30 sessions. the company announced a share buyback plan, helping the stock make up some of what it lost after monday's earnings. defensive-oriented healthcare also saw buyers. generic drug maker mylan led the

group, up more than 2%. merck was one of the best performing dow stocks with this 1.6% rally. fellow dow stock johnson & johnson is at a new 52-week high, despite federal prosecutors reportedly looking for $1 billion to settle an investigation into the marketing practices of an anti-psychotic drug. cisco was the biggest drag on the major indices with its 4.8% drop. volume was very heavy. last night, cisco warned of continued weakness. each of these legs down corresponds to an earnings report. meantime, the leading tech stock was symantec, the computer security company. shares jumped more than 5%. and this is a 52-week high. its results late yesterday were better than expected. tonight after the close, the

market focus fell on semiconductor maker nvidia. earnings came in well ahead of estimates. it's outlook was also better than forecast. shares were strong into this report, up 3% during the regular session. but in extended hours action, they were down more than 3%. while still below its 52-week high, shares have been trending higher since hitting single digit lows last august. also after the close, department store nordstrom beat the street, but dropped its full year outlook thanks to its buyout of online retailer haute-look. nordstrom stock has been hitting a series of new 52-week highs, but the stock was down about 2% after it cut its outlook. financial stocks were the weakest, thanks to this sharp

drop in goldman sachs, off 3.5% with volume jumping five-fold. this is goldman's lowest stock price since last august. rochdale analyst dick bove cut his opinion to sell after yesterday's insider trading conviction of hedge fund owner raj rajaratnum. prosecutors argued rajaratnum received some of his illegal inside information from a now former goldman board member. finally, while energy prices stabilized, cotton, wheat and silver continued their recent slide, silver slipping below $35 an ounce. and that's tonight's "market focus."

>> tom: as the american job market tries to rebuild the workforce is getting older every day, 29 million american workers are 55 years old or older. this is an all-time high. one in five u.s. workers are at least in their mid 50s thanks to the baby boom generation. mark friedman is the founder and c.e.o. of civic ventures, and author of the big shift, navigating beyond midlife. welcome to nightly business report, nice to see you. >> nice to be here. >> tom: are we in a new era of the retirement years, so-called golden years? >> no, i think we're seeing the end of the 30 year retirement it is not feasible for individuals or the country. but i think we're seeing in its place the birth of a new stage of life. yeah, we here 60 is the new 30, sometimes it seems like it is the new 90. 60 is really the new 606789 and we have a torrent of people who are moving into

this phase. >> tom: so instead of people working from their 20s to their 60s and then retiring, hopefully living another 30 year or so in retirement, they're looking for another careers what is driving this? is this partly being driven by the lack of retirement savings? >> partly it's virtue out of necessity. people need the savings. as a country i don't think we can afford to write-off the most experienced segment of the population. but there's also a purpose. we hear about the purpose-driven life. in many ways we are starting to see the purpose-driven job. people reach this phase in life, they realize they are fewer years ahead than behind. but there's enough years and enough energy to do something significant. so they're moving in a new direction that combines a sense of meaning, chance to continue to bring in an income and an opportunity to use their experience. >> tom: i don't want to make it all about the income, but they must feel secure in their retirement savings if they are able to leave their professional careers in which they spent 3 decades building up their income to go try something new, likely at a lower income, correct? >> yes, you know, the past

the dream was the freedom from work. but what you hear from people is today the freedom to work, to do work that is closer to their hearts and to draw on some of the savings that they've already put aside. >> tom: you've got several ideas to address this, we'll look at three of them. the first one is the so-called gap year, normally when are you 18 or 19 years old before you go off to college. are you talking about it after your first career in your 50s or 60s. >> if somebody is going to have another phase of life that could be as long as the middle years in duration, they need a break. people are working extreme jobs, they're raising families. many people need to take a miniretirement to catch their breath. >> tom: you have to feel pretty financialicall financialically-- financially secure to do that. >> you can feel more if you know will you an income the next 15 or 20 years. it might not be as great as the one you paid before butts's an important piece of the security puzz nell this stage of life. >> tom: and to the point of finances, you also advocate individual personal account. these, i take it, are kind of like iras but to be used for the gap year, as it were

when are you in your mid 50s or 60s. >> if you go back to school in that gap year period or don't have an income t can be a terrible financial thing. but rather than va an ira to save all your money for the end of life, what about an individual purpose account to save for this transition period, from what's last to what's next. >> tom: tax benefit. >> i think that would greatly increase the likelihood that people will save for this transition. >> tom: finally encore careers, structurally this economy is still lost 7 million jobs. when people are still fighting to keep their first careers how can they go out and look for a second one. >> it's long-term thinking. they are most likely going to be an increase in jobs in health, in education, in human services, caring for the elderly. even in the clergy. so i think those are areas where people have good prospects of future employment once the job market bounces back. i think the encore career is a new hybrid, a kind of practical idealism between economic security and also a chance to have a new purpose in life. >> tom: mark friedman is his name, the name of the book

is, the big shift. >> susie: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: treasury secretary timothy geithner, along with the trustees of medicare and social security, holds a news conference in washington. also tomorrow, the consumer price index for april is released. and eugene peroni is our market monitor. he says, if you look beneath the hood of the engine of wall street, stocks are the place to invest right now. good news and bad news on the nation's foreclosure problem. the good-- last month, fewer people had their homes taken back by the bank or were put on notice for late mortgage payments. the bad-- the slowdown was due to a growing backlog in processing paperwork, so foreclosures are being delayed. realty trac keeps tabs on the industry. it says it could take four years to move all the pending foreclosures through the pipeline. >> tom: the massive flooding on the mississippi river is taking a toll on louisiana farmers. thousands of acres of corn and

soybeans are under water north of new orleans, as water pours over a nearby levee. that's just part of the problem. the coast guard could close the river to ships monday, halting all traffic. that means barges carrying crops would be stuck, unable to deliver their cargo to grain elevators or customers.

>> susie: education budgets nationwide are being slashed. that means colleges face layoffs, program cuts and campus closings as they brace for reductions in state money. tonight's commentator thinks more emphasis needs to be put on students and learning. he's jamie merisotis, president and c.e.o. of the lumina foundation. >> the former c.e.o. of intel recently told arizona that its education system isn't up to the job. craig barrett says he'd recommend against building plants in the state because it needs more qualified high school and college graduates. for arizona, and any other state, it's a sobering message. without the right competencies and skills, people can't earn the salaries they need. so how do we know if the skills and competencies that students receive actually matter, in the workforce and in life? the answer lies in coming to agreement about what students should know and be able to do in

order to earn an associates, bachelors, or masters degree. this agreement can be achieved through broad adoption of a framework that actually describes these competencies, no matter what the field of study. the first draft of such a framework has been developed by the lumina foundation, and it's called "the degree qualifications profile." it uses established research to describe the knowledge and skills degree holders must possess and be able to apply in the real world. this degree profile is now being tested by professors, accrediting agencies, and others. it's a bridge between employers and higher education around the kinds of competencies that make people successful. we're in a race to keep companies investing and building here at home. the degree profile can help show the way forward. i'm jamie merisotis. >> tom: finally, consumers aren't the only ones reeling from high fuel costs. delivery businesses are, too. nationwide, diesel fuel now costs about 20 cents a gallon more than regular unleaded gasoline.

as we continue our series "pumped up prices," erika miller looks at how some of new york city's food trucks are swallowing the higher prices for now. >> reporter: when you think of street food, this is probably what comes to mind. but lately, there has been a boom in souped-up trucks serving gourmet fare. one of them is sweetery. >> would you like a corner, middle or edge? >> reporter: samira mahboubian and grant di mille own the roving bakery. sales are strong... >> $4.50, please. thank you. >> reporter: but the rising cost of diesel is taking a big bite out of profits. >> we've seen it dramatically affect our business, not only with the truck that runs on diesel, and the generator on the truck runs on diesel, but also when we get deliveries, we've noticed a sharp increase in our raw materials product costs. our distributors seem to be raising their prices every month or so based on fuel surcharges. >> reporter: next to sweetery, you'll find crisp, serving falafel.

owner jack rahmey never imagined his operating costs would rise so sharply. >> in my business plan, i didn't have a plan for gasoline to rise 25% in the last three weeks. the driving we are doing is minimal, but we need to leave our generator on when we are serving food. >> reporter: but for some food trucks, high energy prices do have an upside. they are forcing many consumers to cut back discretionary spending. and one way to do that is to eat less in restaurants and buy cheaper street food. customers say price is part of what keeps them coming back. >> this is one of the least expensive meals you can find here, the dumpling truck. >> reporter: unfortunately for food trucks, diesel typically averages between 15 and 30 cents more a gallon than regular unleaded. but over the past week, crude prices have dropped sharply, and analyst sam margolin says that could eventually push down diesel prices. >> i think there's a little bit more that could potentially come out of oil prices. to the extent that that happens,

we will see it for diesel, as well. >> reporter: for now, many trucks are reluctant to pass along higher prices. >> we want to be very sensitive to our customers. we know that people are struggling still. the perception out there is that the economy is still not strong, and people are still very cautious about how they spend their money. >> reporter: but if energy prices keep rising, sweetery warns it will have to charge more. that's okay with some of the regulars. >> i think it's mostly about the convenience factor, because it's in front of where i work. >> it's good quality food and they're very friendly. >> reporter: as we all know, if the craving is strong enough, what's an extra dime or two? erika miller, "nightly business report," new york. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for thursday, may 12. i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone, and good night to you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> be more. pbs.