CNBC is on its big-government kick again, the first real drive for the socialization of risk and the privatization of profits since the Bush-Pelosi Bailout. The subjects in the last half hour ranged from bailing out those who have mad mortgages, bailing out banks who gave bad mortgages, and also bailing out GM because they are too big to fail.

As Tom says in his latest post, controlling the knee-jerk left will be Obama’s biggest challenge, if Obama is elected President. Mortgage bail-outs can be one example. There are a lot of ways to increase affordable housing (such as subsidizing urban light rail and mass transit, which would allow more people to have apartments in the city and commute to work, without having an expensive car), and help the auto industry (such as heavily subsidizing alternative-fuel vehicles).

The other approach is to just write checks, which CNBC and many in the Democratic Party support.

If Obama wins, I hope he’s up for the challenge.