So today is the day. Today, for the first time in our history a black man will be the most powerful person on the planet. And while I’d love to – as a black man myself – talk about the struggle of black people and the triumph this day represents for African Americans, time is limited and there are more important matters at hand.

We face an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. The Great Depression was horrifying, but it was a different time, a different world, with far different economic realities. The fact that jobs are disappearing, housing prices are falling, credit is more and more difficult to attain, and a host of other economic symptoms we as a nation have seen before should not make us believe that policies that worked in the past will also work now.

Liberals point to the New Deal as a shining moment of government working to better the lives of the American people. I have no doubts FDR’s intentions were pure and his resolve unwavering, but even among historians, a significant percentage believe that New Deal policies lengthened and/or worsened the Great Depression.

If Barak Obama thinks similar stimulus packages are the cure for today’s economic ills, he is making a grave mistake. We were an economy that became drunk on subprime loans and banks pimped themselves out to people who simply could not afford their homes.

Greed.

And while decisive and swift action is needed, if the government continues to take the role of “Lord Protector” in every economic crisis, we will face a crisis that even the might of our government will be unable to handle. I know many liberals don’t want to hear this and instead will say, “What about the children?”, “we need to invest in our infrastructure”, “we need to become more energy efficient”, etc. we need not the government to recklessly jump into economic hyper drive.

Instead, we need Obama and his new administration to support the market and make it more difficult for this to happen again. The government is not – nor should it be – in the business of making profits. This is the task of businesses and while their greed has caused Big Brother to step in and save the day, the fundamentals of our economy are based upon free competition with as little government involvement as possible.

To use an analogy we often see play out in movies, the terrorist act in 2001 is often seen as a catalyst for some conservative to put in place his/her overreaching programs that in fringe upon average Americans’ lives and freedoms. The implicit message is that one act of terrorism should not result in the loss of individual freedoms. Agreed and in the same manner, one instance of unadulterated greed should not result in a government the size of Greenland and our markets under the thumb of the US government.

And that, above all else, is the greatest challenge that awaits our 44^th United States President.