In less than 48 hours, a new post will come into being, that of President-Elect of the United States – although it is perhaps typical of our time that, as this one job appears, several disappear:  the role of Presidential Candidate ceases to exist both for the winner and for the losers.

At some almost-magical point tomorrow night all the President-Elect’s priorities will change. So far, everything has been about getting votes. By the end of the evening, that will no longer matter. There is a country to be run and a global economy to be saved.

Voters understand this. Politicians may take their platforms or manifestos seriously but most people do not pay much attention to them. We accept circumstances change and we vote for the man we think can deal with the unexpected.

So we accept that policies drafted three months ago are not applicable now, given the cataclysmic events of the last few weeks – and who knows what will be needed in two months time when the new President finally takes office?

The President-Elect should therefore not feel too committed to campaign promises made long ago, in a very different world. They were never very convincing anyway. Instead he needs to give a new priority to policies that can get the economy functioning again and quietly forget any that may be an obstacle to that.

So, please, Mr President,

1   First and foremost, do not say or do anything that undermines global free trade – to do so is the surest way to turn recession into depression;

2   Small business does not need federal bailout nor do we ask for government money – indeed, we would rather you not use tax money on schemes that usually degenerate into cronyism;

3   Joe the Plumber was right – it is the small-medium enterprise (SME) sector which creates jobs, but those jobs will not be created if you tax people who earn over two hundred and fifty grand a year;

4   Tax cuts are a more reliable way of injecting cash into the economy than government spending – which simply gives more money to privileged contractors and bureaucrats at the expense of other taxpayers;

5   The best way to prevent reckless lending is to make debt and insolvency laws less creditor-friendly;

6   Take serious action to ensure SMEs have fair access to government contracts;

7   The financial sector does not need more regulation – it needs efficient regulation, with fewer organisations involved; and

8   Hope may be an intangible but it is a vital intangible – FDR’s “You have nothing to fear but fear itself” did more good than any of his actual policies.