. >> reporter: i'm darren gersh at the supreme court. if you cut the heart out of health care reform, what's left? the justices debate the merits of constitutional surgery. >> tom: and we head to chicago, where the housing market is on the mend. but there's a new tren investor landlords. 's "nitly business report" for wednesday, march 28. this is "nightly business report" with sus gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: >> susie: good evening, everyone. oil prices fell by the most in a week, but don't start celebrating yet. tom, many other factors are affecting supply and prices. >> tom: susie, the main reason for today's drop in crude: talk of some western nations possibly tapping in emergency oil reserves. so in new york trading, crud futurefell $92 to cle at $1.41 barrel. that decline in oil puts pressure on energy shares, which contributed to a down day for stocks. the dow lost 71 points, the s&p slipped seven, and the nasdaq fell 15. >> susie: meanwhile, gasoline prices are still moving higher. aaa said

. >> reporter: i'm darren gersh at the supreme court. tonight, we continue our look at the historic battle over the president's health care law. is it a sensible fix to a pressing problem, or a federal power play? >> tom: come summer, there will be a new number one at mcdonald's. c.e.o. jim skinner will retire after seven years at the top. the current number two, president and chief operating officer don thompson, will take over. over. erika miller looks at what this change means for the world's biggest burger chain. >> reporter: don thompson has every reason to smile, as he did back in 2008 when we spoke to him. >> we serve customers one at a time. >> reporter: thompson started at mcdonald's as an electrical engineer, and will now be in charge of engineering strong sales growth at the fast food giant. but it won't be easy filling jim skinner's shoes. skinner was one of the architects of mcdonald's successful turnaround strategy called "plan to win," which was rolled out in 2003. back then, the restaurants were run down, and some thought

. >> reporter: i'm darren gersh at the supreme court. government intrusion or reasonable regulation? the justices debate health care and the individual mandate. >> reporter: i'm erika miller in new york. stocks and bonds are duking it out. i'll look at where the big gains are likely to come for your portfolio. >> susie: and with home prices still falling, what makes more sense, renting or owning? we'll see what two twenty- somethings are thinking. it's "nightly business report" for tuesday, march 27. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. susie, a closely divided supreme court today dove into the question of whether the government can force millions of americans to buy health insurance. >> susie: tom, the individual mandate is at the heart of the massive health care reform law that takes full effect in two years. but the justices today debated whether that requirement is a congressional

as darren gersh reports, the ipad is a big business indeed. >> reporter: just look at all these people standing in line. they've made the ipad a huge business. so huge, if it weren't part of apple, the ipad alone would be a much bigger business than amazon, maker of the kindle fire. the ipad is also more than four times bigger than p.c. maker dell. that's the conclusion of tuck finance professor anant sundaram. >> here we are talking about a product that potentially is disruptinghe p.c. industrynd who knows where this is all headed. >> reporter: to show you the math, we pulled out-- what else-- an ipad. professor sundaram figures the average profit on an ipad at $153. if apple stays on track to sell 60 million ipads this year, that will bring in profit of $9.2 billion. now, take that $9.2 billion and multiply it by apple's 15 price/earnings ratio-- a measure of value based on profits-- and you get a market value of the ipad aa standaloneusiness of $138 billion. even for a finance professor, that's a lot of money. >> i myself was astounded. >> reporter: now analysts at i.d.c. say the la

. >> reporter: i'm darren gersh.treasury secretary timothy geithner heads to dallas to talk up the economy and visit one of warren buffett's biggest bets. i'll have an exclusive interview tomorrow. >> susie: and finally, how about a movie night? redbox, the dvd movie rental kiosk company, is offeri a free dvd rental tomorrow, march 8. redbox says it's a thank you to its customers for two billion movie rentals. all you have to do is enter the promo code "thanks-2-u" at the kiosk. that's the word "thanks," the number 2 and the letter "u." and susie, if you're wondering, redbox's two billionth rental was the movie "drive," starring ryan gosling. >> 2 billion movies, and i've fallen asleep in the first 30 seconds for mest of om. >> susie:ot this one >> tom: that's nightly business report for this evening, wednesday, march 7th. we want to remind you this is the time of year your public television station seeks your support. >> susie: support that makes programs like "nightly business report" possible. >> tom: thanks for j

s darren gersh in an exclusive interview in fort worth, texas, yesterday. gersh also asked the secretary about why the obama administration is focused on coporate tax reform when several income tax provisions, like the payroll tax cut are due to expire at the end of the year. >> both are exceptionally important, and tax reform is going to have to come because the tax system we have today is really unfair, and it makes us less strong as a country, and you need to work on both. the president, of course, has laid out a whole range of proposals on the individual side to help make sure to protect middle class americans, and we ask the most port nat 2% of americans to bear a somewhat larger burden of what the country needs. on the corporate side, what we think we need to do is clean up all the loopholees, lower the rates so we can be more competitive. and make it easier for small businesses to work. >> a lot of customers ship parts and the companies that aassemble them overseas. your corporate reform would require them to pay a minimum foreign tax. the companies a

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: sure, growth is about average now and unemployment is falling faster than the federal reserve expected, but federal reserve chairman ben bernanke was not about to take his foot off the gas. he defended his drive to support the economy. and credit suisse economist dana saporta argues bernanke has plenty of company. >> all major developed countries are being very easy right now because they're concerned that this recovery from the great recession is going to falter otherwise. >> reporter: saporta expects the fed will deliver another boost to the economy. it should come later this year as the economic benefit from good weather fades and higher gas prices hit consumer pockets. but bernanke today gave no hints and showed few worries. but since he was talking to congress, bernanke also pointed out washington could crush the economy if it fails to deal with all the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that are just months away. >> under current law, on january 1, 2013, there's going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases. i

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: the world bank has decades of experience handing out foreign aid and economic advice to poor countries. so it was a surprise when the president picked as the bank's next president doctor jim kim. kim has spent much of his life battling hiv/aids around the world. >> i believe that nobody is more qualified to carry out that mission than dr. jim kim. it's time for a development professional to lead the world's largest development agency. >> reporter: the united states is the world bank's largest shareholder and an american has run it since it was created at the end of world war 2. but this year, emerging economies are seeking a lobbying for a larger role. that means kim, who has no training in finance, could face a real challenge from nigerian finance minister ngozi. okonjo-iweala also recently served as a world bank managing director. >> in addition to the sense that it's time for the united states to relinquish this role, there's also the question of qualification. >> reporter: whoever the world bank's executive directors select, the next president will

as darren gersh reports, one reason behind the change is to help position google for a changing online advertising race. >> we love a bit of google! >> reporter: jamie oliver is the example google offered up today for what the online world will look like under its new privacy policy. if you do a lot of searches for the celebrity chef on youtube, google says it will now be able to suggest recipes or serve up ads for cookbooks when you're using one of the search giant's many products. technology strategist bill whyman says google has two goals for the privacy change. >> when they have a more accurate view of who you are and what you are interested in, they can target ads more precisely, get users to click on them more frequently and, hence, get paid more money. >> reporter: whyman says google's other goal is to make a better pitch to advertisers trying to target a sale. >> "we have more and better than what facebook can give you." >> reporter: analysts say google is trying to make sure people spend less time on sites like facebook and more time using google products. that would generate

over the weekend the president urged an end to quote "loose talk of war," but as darren gersh reports, that hasn't reduced the odds of a conflict. >> reporter: the president promised the israeli prime minister that the u.s. would always have israel's back, but it's not clear the two countries now see eye to eye. but on the key issue of iran's nuclear ambitions, the president argued for time to let economic sanctions force iran to negotiate. >> we do believe that there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue, but ultimately the iranians' regime has to make a decision to move in that direction. >> reporter: and just in case the iranians misunderstand, the president stressed his policy is to prevent iran from gaining nuclear weapons. at the council on foreign relations, michael levi says that is a message iran should not ignore. >> i wouldn't underestimate the degree to which this white house is worried about an iranian nuclear weapon and if it feels that it is losing the opportunity to prevent iran from gaining a nuclear weapon. then it would not be surpr

. >> reporter: this is darren gersh in washington. the price at the pump prompted the obama administration today to perform some political damage control. >> domestic oil production is at an eight-year high in the united states of america. >> the global price of oil is affected by a variety of factors, some of which are well beyond the control of any administration. >> we're not at a point where we can drill our way out of this problem. >> reporter: inflicting political damage is the job of republican presidential candidates. and they blasted the administration for allowing gas prices to double on the president's watch. >> i sometimes wonder why he does the things he does because they're not good for america if they're not creating jobs, not raising incomes, not getting us gasoline that we can afford. obama's energy plan is really only one word. no. no drilling, no keystone pipeline. no listening to the american people. >> reporter: the criticism may be having an impact. a new "washington post"-abc news poll finds two out of three ame

darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> susie: also in the spotlight today, president obama giving his first press conference this year. he said diplomatic solutions are still possible in the iran conflict, and he also urged congress to pass his proposal for homeowners to refinance. tonight, the president will be meeting with business leaders in washington. our next guest will be there. he's alan miller, c.e.o. of universal health services, one of the nation's biggest healthcare management companies. when i talked with him earlier today, i asked him what he wants to hear from the president. >> one thing i would like the president to do is to assure us that the 2% medicare cut that's supposed to go in next year will be reviewed. that's one. second thing i'd like him to think about is creating some sort of a committee to review the affordable care act carefully and with a view towards amending those parts that don't work. i'd like to see him say something about medical liability reform, tort reform, which is something that i think is very essential. >> susie: i'm going t

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: your cell phone wouldn't power up without rare earth minerals, and military hardware like this drone wouldn't hit its target without rare earth minerals, which is why the president wants u.s. companies to have access to these vital materials. >> now, if china would simply let the market work on its own, we'd have no objections. but their policies currently are preventing this from happening, and they go against the very rules china agreed to follow. being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid cars in america is too important for us to stand by and do nothing. >> reporter: manufacturers of glass for touch-screen computers have moved to china, in part, because it produces almost all of the world's rare earth minerals. and the u.s. complaint filed with the world trade organization claims china uses quotas, duties, and red tape to restrict exports that might help high-tech companies move back to the united states. jeff green represents companies that want to mine for rare earth minerals in the united states. he says today's trade complaint ma