on our broadcast this monday night, bank on this. the president calls in the nation's top bankers for a tough talking to. but what happens next? high drama. the missing climbers on a famous american peak. how much time is left? the tradeoff. knowing the risks about c.a.t. scans and the fallout from radiation and making a difference. how warm hearts can actually make for warm hearts. "nightly news" begins now. good evening. the people who were there, who worked for president bush in the white house will tell you there were real worries the u.s. economy might collapse. and while nobody really wanted to give taxpayer money to banks, no one could fathom the alternative. president obama says he's proud of what was done to revive the economy, save the system and the banks. but he calls some of the bankers fat cats. and he seems to want to shame them into better behavior. he called several of the top bankers to the white house today. we'll begin there tonight with our white house correspondent savannah guthrie. savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. people in the meeting say the president didn't use that same angry, frustrated tone we all heard on television this weekend. but his message was the same to these executives. he said, do your part to get the economy back on track. with some executives having to join by phone due to a delayed commercial flight -- >> i appreciate you guys calling in. i'm sorry that the flights got held up. >> reporter: -- the president convened a meeting with the very people he's been calling fat cats to convey this message. >> that america's banks received extraordinary assistance from american taxpayers to rebuild their industry. we expect them to explore every responsible way to help get our economy moving again. >> reporter: but as the big banks repay bailout money -- citibank just the latest announcing it's giving back $20 billion -- the government's leverage over them decreases. and the bully pulpit only goes so far. >> that is the height of irresponsibility. it is shameful. >> reporter: the president has made a show of his frustration with wall street from the earliest days of his administration to his interview with "60 minutes" last night. >> the people on wall street still don't get it. >> reporter: but lending to small business has decreased for the last four consecutive quarters. banks have made only 31,000 permanent modifications to home loans as part of the administration's foreclosure program. while analysts estimate wall street is about to pay $30 billion in compensation and bonuses. still, some economists say pushing banks to lend more puts the government in dicey territory. >> that's back home mortgages, let's back consumer loans. let's put the government behind everything. it's sort of an odd situation where we're saying let's do safer loans. >> reporter: the president laid into wall street for lobbying against reforms. >> that's a fight i'm more than willing to have. >> reporter: and wanted concessions from executives. >> we're going to sit down as ceos and find a solution. not take out the lobbyists or the trade associations but let them follow our lead. >> reporter: the white house is also pointing to one other result from the meeting -- bank of america announced today it plans to increase small business lending and medium-sized business lending by $35 billion next year. >> savannah guthrie on the white house lawn starting us off. more nor cnbc's senior economic reporter steve liesman with us in our studio. we used the word shame them into better behavior at the top of the broadcast. what leverage does this president really have over these bankers? >> slim to none, actually. he had some leverage when all these big banks were part of the t.a.r.p. program. but what they've been doing is running as fast as they possibly can from this program, in part because of the pay restrictions that came with it. just today, citigroup paid back $20 billion and retired insurance on the toxic assets and moments before this broadcast began, wells fargo announced that it was going to be paying back its $25 billion. that reduces the leverage. what we're seeing here, i think; a little bit of history. it's been many decades since a u.s. president browbeat any industry in public. i say you go back to president john kennedy in the early '60s when he browbeat the steel industry over higher steel prices. in the span of time there hasn't been anything quite like what we're seeing from president obama. >> and it is a little bit of populist jout rage because you know howe 9 out of 10 americans feel about bankers. >> we did a survey showing financial industry, wall street is among the least regarded by the american public. at the end of the day government is tremendously conflicted. they want the banks to lend to small business, but they also have to regulate the banks and don't want them making lousy loans out there. >> steve liesman. by the way, the economy will be among the issues they'll be asking vice president joe biden about when he appears on "morning joe" tomorrow morning on msnbc. and one piece of business news tonight, exxonmobil announced today it's buying houston-based natural gas company, xto energy in a $31 billion all-stock deal. analysts call the acquisition a bet on the future of a cleaner burning fuel than oil. overseas now, the goal of a lot of global summits is to get through it and read a statement at the end of it saying it was a fruitful and productive meeting. if that was anybody's goal for this u.n. global summit that's been under way in copenhagen, it has failed miss ra bligably. there's been real disagreement and there's some real hard bargaining going on. our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson has been covering it all the all the way through and with us once again tonight from copenhagen. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is crunch time. the head of the u.s. delegation says progress is being made, but there is still a long way to go. and time is running out. above the anxious buzz at the climate talks, today developing countries made themselves heard. >> people are dying. >> reporter: led by africa, 135 nations, including india and china, staged a five-hour boycott. angry over what they say are insufficient carbon cuts proposed by the world's rich countries. >> we've now come in a new era of africans who understand the politics, understand international dynamics and will make a stand to get the best bill for africa. >> reporter: a ploy observers say is part of the process even as time runs short. >> they want a seat at the table and want a clear signal this process will lead to real commitments for action from the key countries. >> reporter: with just four days left, british prime minister gordon brown comes ahead of schedule to ratchet up momentum for a deal. president obama is coming friday, joining more than 110 other world leaders. >> it's really important that countries focus on the essential and focus on the pragmatic and focus on getting this done. >> reporter: stepping up to prove the point, u.s. energy secretary steven chu with an outreach to poor countries. rich countries will offer clean energy technology such as exchanging solar lamps for kerosene ones in developing nations. >> this is our hope that the developed countries working with the undeveloped countries can help them. so they grow an energy-efficient economy good for them, good for us. >> reporter: but protesters from southern hemisphere countries want a fair deal and throw shoes at a mural of world leaders to make their point. >> the way things are running right now they're being super conservative or really totally stupid. >> reporter: now the irony here, brian, is that this summit is going to go down as one of the biggest creators of carbon dioxide emissions. a report commissioned by the danish government found that 46,000 tons of co2 has been created by the summit, most of it by the attendees 'flights alone, including 140 private jets. >> anne thompson in copenhagen as it goes on. in this country, a major drama playing out in the pacific northwest tonight. a race against time and the elements to rescue two climbers lost for three days now. they're on mt. hood, oregon's tallest peak. the bot body of a third climber was recovered from the mountain over the weekend. we have the latest from nbc's lee cowan at the rescue command post at mt. hood. lee, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we just got an update from rescuers. they said they were able to take advantage of a brief break in the weather today to get at least above the 10,000 foot level of mt. hood. that's where they think those two climbers may be, where they hope they've dug a snow cave or some sort of shelter. at one point, a chopper was hovering right over the summit of mt. hood. they still didn't find anything. the threat of falling ice and avalanches make it difficult to get up there by foot. the question tonight is where near its icy summit could it be hiding two young but experienced climbers. 29-year-old katie nolan and 24 had-year-old anthony vietti. >> the avalanche danger is so extreme that it will be a real slow go checking all the conditions as they go. >> reporter: relatives say nolan and viety knew the mountain well. they'd climbed it on, along with their friend luke gullberg. their myspace pages are full of images showing them climbing in all sorts of conditions and terrain. but something on mt. hood went wrong. on saturday, luke's body was found around 9,000 feet on a glacier. the victim perhaps of a fall. but there was no siphon the other two. family members are hoping for the best, insisting that if anyone can survive another night on the mountain, it's them. >> i think they're strong enough to still be alive. absolutely. but today is our day. >> reporter: no one is quite sure what happened that night. and the clues are eerie. a camera found near luke's body shows a happy climbing party well equipped with some survival gear. absent, however, was a radio locator beacon. puzzling to some, but not to climbers like eric linemayer. he summited the tallest peak in the continent and says beacons can give a mountaineers a false sense of security. >> regulating whether someone should have these, i don't think it will make a difference. it really comes down to good decision-making in the outdoors. >> reporter: now, brian, rescuers are going to be taking a look at high resolution photographs taken from the chopper today. so far, they haven't seen anything, and the weather is expected to deteriorate tonight going into tomorrow. brian. >> lee cowan at the command post there at mt. hood tonight. lee, thanks. there is a holiday season law enforcement action to report. federal agents said today they have seized millions of dollars worth of counterfeit products from fake brand name shoes to pirated dvds, all part of a nationwide crackdown against dealers of knockoff merchandise. our justice correspondent pete williams in our washington newsroom with more on this. >> reporter: i.c.e., immigration and customs enforcement says the holiday is as big for counterfeiters. they announced results of a nationwide roundup last week. more than $26 million in counterfeit merchandise seized in 40 cities and half the states. they found pirated movies and cds, phony sports gear, sunglasses and watches and fake purses and even counterfeit shoes, including a rip-off of a design honoring president obama. they also found knockoff prescription drugs, even toothpaste, which officials say could be harmful, since none of it is subject to inspection. i.c.e. says most of the merchandise was in continueded for sale on streets or flea markets or swap meets. people who buy these counterfeit goods harm the economy and taking jobs from workers. >> pete williams in washington with that story. italy's prime minister sill have i yoe berlusconi is in rough shame tonight and remains hospitalized more seriously injured than doctors first thought after he was attacked yesterday in milan. as you may know by now he was hit in the face by a small tat u made of marble thrown by a man with a history of mental illness who today apologized for the attack. the prime minister lost two teeth, a lot of blood, his nose broken, he was bloodied up. his doctor says he was badly shaken up and may require weeks of treatment. when our broadcast continues here on a monday night, could c.a.t. scans mean more harm than later, dispensing true warmth this time of year and making a difference in the "s" stands for straightforward. as in up-front, honest... total transparency. straightforward is the way td ameritrade does business. simple, fair pricing. no hidden account fees. no shenanigans. just good value. real help. smart people who are easy to work with. that's what td ameritrade stands for. what does your investment firm stand for? it's time for fresh thinking. it's time for td ameritrade. and get a cold... ...you need a cold medicine with a heart. only coricidin hpb has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hpb. powerful cold medicine with a heart. by changing her medicare prescription plan. all we had to do was go to cvs.com and use the free savings calculator. we learned that changing your medicare part d plan could save an average of $612. woman: we just entered my prescriptions, and it compared plans for us. it was easy to find the right plan for the prescriptions i need. your cvs pharmacist can help, too. come in today, or go to cvs.com before december 31st to find the best plan for you -- at cvs/pharmacy. as we mentioned, there is health news tonight about c.a.t. scans, ct scans and the risk they may bring. they are powerful and very useful imaging devices that require high doses of radiation. are they worth it in all cases? our report tonight from our chief science correspondent, robert bazell. >> reporter: ct scans have become a familiar part of medicine. they are computerized assemblies of several x-rays which provide doctors with very accurate images. but research out today points to dangers, that some say are too often ignored. >> we're getting a lot of radiation from ct scans that there's a lot of variability in the radiation that we're getting from different types of ct scans, and that there are a lot of excess cancers. >> reporter: depending on the part of the body being scanned, each ct exposes a patient to an amount of radiation equal to between 30 and 440 chest x-rays. the researchers calculated that 72 million ct scans are performed in this country a year and concluded that could lead to 29,000 excess cancers and 15,000 excess deaths a year in the future. researchers also found there is as much as a 13-fold variability in the amount of radiation that patients get with a single scan between hospitals and even between machines in the same hospital. ge, parent company of nbc, is a major manufacturer of medical scanning equipment. dr. elliott fishman of johns hopkins represents the radiological society of north america. >> the first thing of course is all the advantages ct has in making correct dying knowese, early diagnosis and really affecting patient care and saving lives. >> reporter: but he says doctors are working hard to lower the dosage of radiation. >> so it's something very critical to radiology and something we're taking very seriously. >> reporter: he and others say patients should always ask if a ct scan is truly necessary. and the authors of today's study say doctors need to reassess the balance of risk and benefits for each scan they order. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. the u.s. supreme court is going to take up the following question -- is a personal text message sent on an employer-owned device private or is it the property of the employer that owns the device? the court just today said it will take up the question in the case of a california police sergeant and the police department that owned his pager. this after an appeals court ruled in favor of the sergeant already. when we come back here tonight, the one place you probably didn't want to be today if you didn't have to. heart atk caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be 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new mayor in a runoff election over the weekend. she is controller anise parker. her win makes houston the largest city to have an openly gay mayor. toyota announcing a plug-in version of the prius, which can travel more than 14 miles on a single battery charge before the hybrid gas engine kicks in. the company says the car gets 134 miles to the gallon. the plug-in is set to go on sale in 2011. no price tag yet, but toyota says it will be, quote, affordable. if you were anywhere near a post office today, then you know this is the single busiest mailing day of the year. this is how it looked at chicago's main branch today. the folks at the postal service tell us they moved more than 830 million pieces of mail nationwide just today. with all the cards, catalogs and presents, that is 250 million pieces more than usual. we're back in a moment with tonight's "making a difference" report. a modern-day version of who's got the mitt. y. thanks. stay on the line! whatever your destination, 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