all closed at records for the second straight day. we have more on that in just a moment. but we begin tonight in our nation's capital, where there are new developments on an issue of critical concern to investors like you -- tax reform. today the republicans sent out a save the date notice for september 25th, when they plan to release the core elements of what they call big, bold tax reform. >> this is the beginning of the process. it's the beginning of a very important process to achieve for the first time in a generation overhauling our tax system and giving middle class families >> and as the gop prepares for its legislative push, the president, encouraging lawmakers to work quickly, made clear what he wants to see in the proposal. >> make the tax code simple and fair. cut taxes substantially. it will be the largest tax decrease in the history of our country for the middle class. encourage companies to hire and grow in america. and by doing that, we're going to have to reduce the taxes for companies. right now we're at 35%, and really much higher when you add state taxes in. >> ylan mui reports from washington. >> reporter: republican leadership plans to release a tax reform plan the week of september 25th. president trump has begun reaching out to democrats. but omb director mick mulvaney is skeptical that they'll come on board. >> that's a real concern of mine, democrats might be committed in their own mind for political reasons that they simply cannot give the president a victory in his first year in office, maybe ever in office. >> reporter: republicans will be able to pass tax reform in the senate with just 50 votes. today mr. trump met with the problem solvers caucus at the white house to talk about tax reform. they're a moderate, bipartisan group in the house. i spoke with their democratic leader but why he thinks president trump wants to engage with their group, not just on tax reform but also issues like immigration and infrastructure. >> the president realizes that you get a lot more done working together. and there's a bunch of us who want to sit at the table, roll up our sleeves and get to work on issues like tax reform, infrastructure, to make sure there's bipartisan support for daca legislation. now we have to push it ahead and get it done. >> reporter: asks whether he think the gop timeline for tax reform is realistic, he said no, but hopes springs eternal. i'm ylan mui, on capitol hill, for "nightly business report." today more than a dozen democratic senators stood wi vermont senator bernie sanders as co-sponsors of his bill for a government-run single payer >> we say the function of a rational health care system is to provide quality care to all in a cost effective way, and not to continue a system which allows insurance companies and drug companies to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profits each year. >> the proposal would be phased in over four years. in the first year, the eligibility age would be lowered to 55 and include all children under 18. in the second year, 45-year-olds would be eligible. in the third year, 35. by the fourth year, senator sanders says, everyone would be covered by what he calls medicare for all. >> but what would expanding medicare for all look like? how much would it cost? and who would pay how much? our guest is the health care policy analyst at capital street. welcome, good to have you with us. i'm going to ask you a simple question, not about political practicality w set that aside. is this a practical idea, single payer medicare for all? >> if it were an idea that came up 40, 50, 60 years ago, then possibly. the problem with proposing it today is that we have medicare. we have medicaid. we have tricare. t 150 million r employer.n insuranm what we have right now is a patchwork system. and introducing this on top is of course expensive, but it's also just difficult, it's difficult to do. but i think 40, 50, 60 years ago it may have been doable before these other programs came about in a big way. >> but does it become part of the conversation and perhaps part of the a workaround, this patchwork type of system? >> well, i think it's -- it's a possible solution. i think the costs are troubling. $30 trillion. some of the estimates are that high. we haven't seen any estimates for how it would be paid for. and it's alluring. if you're somebody with insurance, don't have to pay co-pays, you don't have to pay deductib s also a flip side to that. do we turn into canada or the uk, where there could be a gatekeeper function from a set of government officials who are saying, yes, you can have that knee replacement, or no, you can't have that surgery? so there at some point would have to be an effort to contain costs. and i think consumers who like their choice right now with whatever insurance they have, if they are lucky enough to have it, might not like that. >> but don't private insurance companies have gatekeepers too that decide what drug is on the formulary or what kind of surgery is indicated and what they'll pay for it? >> they do, they absolutely do have prior authorization. and i think that's what you would see with this type of a program too. again, if we're looking out four, five, ten years, if they actually happens, which i don't think it will. because you mentioned health insurers, there are some insurers that could like this idea from a business perspective. that is, you have insurers that work with the benefit to provide plan benefits to medicare beneficiaries. they're also paid by the government for their services. i think some insurers like aetna, united, humana, that operate in m.a. or medicare advantage could potentially, if this program is tweaked for everybody's buy-in, could be actually profitable for health insurers. >> thanks very much, i'm sure it's a discussion that will continue for months, maybe years. higher prices at the pump helped to lift the latest gauge on inflation. producer prices rebounded in august thanks to a 9.5% increase in the cost of gas. economists say even though gas prices could rise further in september, a reversal is expected because of the glut of supply on the market. as we reported at the top of the broadcast, there was a wall street hat trick as the three major indexes eked out big enough gains to close at record levels. energy shares gained on a rise in oil prices when offset a decline in technology stocks. the dow jones industrial average up 39 to 22,158. nasdaq added five. and the s&p 500 rose about two points, enough for an all-time closing high. the department of homeland securi today ordered federal agencies to stop using software made by kaspersky labs. this over concerns about that company's ties to russian intelligence. but as andrea day reports, there are still thousands of businesses and millions of .onsumers still using th >> the government no longer trusts kaspersky as a vendor. >> reporter: trust issues brewing for years. does kaspersky, the russian cybersecurity giant, have direct ties to the russian government? the u.s. government now banning the software from all of its federal agencies, saying, quote, the department is concerned about ties between certain kaspersky officials and russian intelligence. the risk that the russian government could capitalize on access provided by kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates u.s. national security. agencies have 90 days to remove the software. here is a former government contractor. >> the problem is kaspersky is arguably the best antivirus software out there. >> reporter: the general services administration, the gsa, has already taken the security firm off its list of approved government vendors. founder eugene kaspersky worked in russian military intelligence, even graduated from a kgb-run school. according to the company, kaspersky software is used by 270,000 businesses, including those in energy, oil, and gas. >> in a lot of those sensitive systems, those machines they'll be running on are going to be air gapped from the rest of the internet anyway, which quite literally means they're running on their own local network. as a result, it almost doesn't matter if there's a, you know, open back door to the kremlin. >> reporter: at home, at least 400 million consumers around the globe use the software to protect their computers. that according to kaspersky. last week the software was taken off shelves at best buy. what does it mean for you, now that the government has banned the software? >> i would be very surprised if kaspersky continues a few years from now to have significant market penetration. >> reporter: kaspersky tells us, quote, given that kaspersky labs doesn't have inappropriate ties with any government, the company is disappointed for the decision but is grateful for the opportunity to provide additional information in order to confirm that these allegations are completely unfounded. no credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organization, as the accusations are based on false accusations and inaccurate assumptions. kaspersky labs has never helped nor will help any government in the world with its cyber espionage or offensive efforts. and it's disconcerting a private company can be considered guilty due to geopolitical issues. kaspersky labs believes a deeper examination of the company will substantiate that these allegations were without merit. this isn't the first time kaspersky has shot down the theory. some say the best course would be to uninstall the software and replace it with a different brand. for "nightly business report," i'm andrea day. ahead, why paying for a smartphone is becoming a lot. are you still paying for cable television? a lot of people are going without it. they are the so-called cord cutters. and it's happening at a faster rate than previously thought. julia boorstin takes a look at the growing trend in a changing tv industry. >> reporter: cable and tv giants, watch out. e-marketer now predicting the number of people who don't have cable or satellite tv will grow 33% this year, to about 22 million. that's about 7 million more people than it previously projected. e-marketer isn't referring to the number of subscribers but rather individual without access to a paid tv bundle. if a group of four roommates decides not to pay for cable, that's one subscription lost and four cord cutters. >> we see the trend accelerating, more and more people have more options to get the programming they want without having a traditional relationship with a cable or satellite provider. >> reporter: these new stormy forecasts come on the heels of comcast's ceo brian roberts reassuring investors about the company's warning that it could lose as many as 150,000 video subscribers this quarter. he says the trend is stable, just 50,000 net subscribers lost in the last 12 months. and comcast, along with all the other media giants, is working to keep consumers in the bundle and to reach them outside of it. comcast incorporating youtube into its x1 cable service and looking for ways to segment its video offerings. today at goldman sachs' media conference, the ceo says his team is working on a new entertainment bundle in the $20 range, looking to launch it by december. >> there's clear data to suggest that a lower price point that doesn't include sports has consumer appeal. what there hasn't been is product in the u.s. i have said it before, we're highly confident a product will exist at this price point in this calendar year. >> reporter: fox news says they see no signs of products decelerating. on top of traditional bundles, murdoch believes that the cabling companies will try to make u the declines that are predicted. i'm julia boorstin, "nightly business report." >> comcast is the parent company of cnbc, which produces this program. dolby labs spikes thanks to, what else, apple. that's where we begin tonight's market focus. during apple's market launch yesterday, the tech giant said a number of its new devices would support dolby's video technology. dolby vision, says apple, will provide the highest resolution possible. with that, shares of dolby labs rose 9.5% to 59.07. with the holiday shopping season just around the corner, target is getting its hiring strategy in place for the busy period. the retailer said it was planning to pull in about 100,000 seasonal workers this year, up 70,000 or so from 2016. target shares rose 3% today to 59.51. tobacco giant philip morris raised its quarterly dividend 3%, the yield just above 3.5%. philip morris shares fell a fraction to $116.86. medicaid coverage prior centene will buy if i hfidelis . shares of centene rose 8% to $98.16. after the bell, dow jones reported tennent health care is proposing a possible sale, sending shares spiking in the extended shares. but shares finished down 5% to 16.24. >> a rise in customer spending wasn't enough to offset slowing foot traffic at cracker barrel. the restaurant and gift shop chain reported lower than expected sales but did beat analysts' earning estimates. the company says it expects the environment to remain challenging in the months ahead. shares rose 1%. the ceo of equifax issued an apology today in an op ed in "usa today," describing the breach that impacted 143 million americans as the most humbling moment in the company's history. he says he's devoting extraordiny resources to make e apology did little to help the stock price. it was off more than 14% in the session today. equifax is one of three nationwide credit reporting agencies that track and rate the financial history of u.s. consumers. and consumers are taking advantage of their wireless carriers' equipment installation plans with brand-new mobile devices costing up to $1,000. buying a smartphone outright isn't always an option so many are paying for them in installments. but is that costing them more in the long run? our guest is the editor in chief of cnet. connie, thank you so much for joining us. let's start first of all with whether or not leasing is the best option for consumers. >> so let's start right off the bat with some vocabulary. leasing programs are like car leasing programs, where you are leasing it but not really owning it. so you're paying a monthly premium. what the carriers and apple have done is started these installment plan programs where you take the cost of the phone, divide it by 24 months, two years, and then they let you pay it out over 24 months. usually apple doesn't charge you any interest, so zero interest installment plans. >> at the end of that period, you own the phone. >> that's right. >> so the $1,000 phone is going to cost me $1,000 when i'm all said and done there. it's not going to cost me $1150 or whatever it would be if they were charging a financing factor. >> well, so there's caveats to everything. so apple does take the cost of the phone, they divide it over that two-year period. then they add a little bit of a service charge. why? because they're offering you what they call their apple care plus. it's a plan that lets you, if you break your phone or drop and crack the screen, replace it. and it gives you an extended warranty over the one-year limited warranty you get. so their plan is actually slightly more than the actual cost of the phone. the carriers also take those 24-month periods, divide it overt cost. there might be some hidden costs but generally speaking there's zero interest. >> okay. say you don't do it with apple necessarily but you do it with verizon or at&t. what is the incentive for the carrier to basically underwrite that? is it that they charge you for other issues or other things, or not? >> well, let's look at phones. you mentioned it right at the outset, sticker shock. phones today are costing anywhere from 700 up to $1150 now for the top end iphone. some people might pause before they say i want to spend that much money on a phone. this gives you a way to spread out the cost or the pain. it allows you, say you want a certain model and you want a higher end model, it lets you make that aspirational purchase that you might not have been able to do because of that sticker shock. >> very quickly, what happens if i cancel, i change carriers before i've paid off the whole phone? >> yeah, you might be on the hook, probably, for continuing to pay it all off. but again, at the end you own it. so then you can go onto ebay or one of the iphone retail sites and sell it, because it is your property. >> thank you so much for joining us, connie guillermo with c sunse net. coming up, what does it take to get the power turned back on low mortgage rates are enticing borrowers to apply for new loans. applications to buy a new home along with applications to refinance existing home loans, experts say that volume would have been even higher if not for the impact of hurricanes irma and harvey. those two powerful hurricanes left a lot of homes in texas and florida flooded. that could lead to the rise in the number of mortgage delinquencies. diana olick explains. >> reporter: hurricane harvey hit hughes tomorrow hom homes hd do the same to the mortgages on those homes, causing as many as 300,000 borrowers to become delinquent on their loans, and 160,000 could become seriously delinquent. that is, more than 90 days past due, which is when banks initiate foreclosures, this from a company which compared mortgaged properties in harvey's fema-designated disaster areas to those in hurricane katrina's. the numbers are four times higher than originally predicted. mortgage deliverannquencies in louisiana spiked 25 percentage points after katrina. the same could happen in houston. homeowners will get some federal relief. but if rebuilding costs more than the principal in their homes, they could decide to walk away. >> obviously it's a really difficult decision for a lot of homeowners to simply leave their home and uproot their families and move somewhere else. only time will tell at this point how the whole process will work with submitting towards insurance, getting your costs covered, what you have to pay out of pocket versus what help you can actually get when it comes to fixing up your home again. >> reporter: turning to florida and irma, you can't use the same comparison, because irma was more of a windstorm and not that much of a long term flood disaster as harvey and katrina. that said, there are over 2 million mortgaged properties in irma-related fema disaster areas, more than four times that of katrina and twice as many as harvey. total unpaid mortgage balances for irma areas is $370 billion. borrowers in florida also have much less home equity than those in houston because they were hit harder in the housing crash. if the math doesn't work for them as well, they could also walk away. for "nightly business report," i'm diana olick in washington. early estimates from wall street economists suggest hurricanes harvey and irma will have a negative impact on third quarter u.s. growth numbers. goldman sachs trimmed its estimates by .8%. other firms have taken down theirs as well but still have growth for the quarter coming in at roughly 2%, maybe a little higher. most economists see fourth quarter numbers moving up, getting a lift as the rebuilding begins. getting the power back on in florida is key to getting that state's economy moving again. millions are still in the dark following hurricane irma. but as jackie deangelis reports, turn lights is a massive undertakin >> reporter: power companies in florida being put to the test, by irma. across the state, about 6.5 million customers without electricity initially. crews working swiftly to bring that number down to about 3.5 million today. >> irma was basically an equal opportunity destroyer. there's parts of our southern territory in the central florida that we're going to have to actually rebuild part of that. that's going to take a lot longer than a simple restoration. >> reporter: chris and his team at duke energy knew they would be challenged. florida's second biggest power provider is working 24/7 to reduce duke's outages from 1.5 million to a little more than 800,000 on wednesday. >> we've told people they're going to be back in power by midnight on sunday, this coming sunday. those pockets in the south, maybe a little longer. it's a 24/7 operation and probably won't stop for some time. >> reporter: while some communities never lost power or got it back quickly, it will be harder to restore in the more damaged areas. flood zones need to drain before crews can go in. some systems will need to be entirely rebuilt. >> in the southern tier of what we call our central florida territory, a maelstrom of things happened there that basically destroyed their infrastructure. we have to go in there with new poles, new lines, and completely rebuild that part. it's going to take us a little bit longer to attack that. >> reporter: residents have been patient. but it's hard to get back to normal when you can't turn on the lights. >> i've lost power for five days. i'm glad i'm getting it back today. i'm not impatient. i'm happy that everyone's out here now, as you can see, getting it together. >> reporter: local crews in florida also got help from thousands of teams in other states. it was a massive storm and it's an equally massive undertaking to get flo for "nightly business report," i'm jackie deangelis in florida. final tonight, dozens of celebrities came together last night to raise money for hurricane relief. the hand in hand benefit raised more than $44 million. some of the donations include 5 million from apple and 1 million each from albertson's and merck. according to nielsen, more than 15.5 million viewers tuned in .cross the big four broadc and that's it for "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks from me as well, i'm tyler mathisen. see ♪ >> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm sunny days,

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