Deep in the cobwebbed corners of the soul, who doesn’t want to be a superhero? We’d like wielding tremendous power, to right terrible wrongs and save life and property before anybody is harmed.

Such characters are idolized – Superman, Batman, Captain America, etc. It’s a human failing, perhaps. We want to save the day, and, also, we want the glory that comes with it.

Except, and this year’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” is a good example, these heroes can be tortured by their assumed responsibility. With this great power comes great burden.

This is because, of course, superheroes never let an opportunity pass to save a person in distress, fight the villain or prevent a catastrophe. The real world is a much more unforgiving place.

Eventually, someday and at sometime, somebody is going to fall and there will be nobody to catch them.

This is the conundrum the federal government finds itself in, after its not-at-all-surprising takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae earlier this week. So far, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and Congress have behaved like the League of Justice, zapping around the U.S. economy and financial markets to rescue homeowners and investors from the consequences of their actions.

They’ve staved off disaster at every turn. When subprime markets were exploding, Congress passed legislation to move these homeowners to government-backed loans. When Bear Stearns’ outlook turned hairy, the Fed propped them up (with millions of bucks).

And now, when Fannie and Freddie were ready to fail, the U.S. Treasury swooped in and saved the pseudo-public companies from falling. That’s a lot of work for one government, but this job – like that of Batman, Superman or whomever – is never over. There are other crucial segments of the American economy that could use a rescue.

And the federal government has set the precedent that it’s on the way.

American carmakers are asking for government intervention for their own misfortune, for example. They seek $50 billion in low-interest loans from Congress, citing the bailout of Bear Sterns as the model for government helping business.

Well, true.

But American car manufacturers have nobody to blame but themselves for their predicament. Against stiff foreign competition and rising fuel prices, they produced the wrong products at the wrong time.

Do they deserve government intervention? Many would say no. It’s not taxpayers’ fault they’re foundering.

Yet neither was Bear Stearns or Fannie and Freddie. And government saved them, didn’t it? The collapse of an automaker could reap equally dire economic consequences.

At some point, government must decide where its responsibilities end in its year-long adventure as an economic superhero. Somebody will fall and bad things may happen, but that’s the reality of these financial times. Not everybody can be saved.

It’s a luxury of superheroes to never have to decide that.