Database owner can't select

I'm a newbie. I'll admit it. I'm having some trouble. I have
8.1installed on ubuntu. I have a simple database set up. I have a
new user
set up and I can log in as that user. I've set the owner of the simple
database to that user with 'ALTER DATABASE [db] OWNER TO [user]', and this
user shows up as the owner with '\l+'. Yet, I can't do anything with the
database as that user. Can't even select. I added select privaledges to a
table for that user, and then select worked.

However, from what I can gather from reading this...

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/privileges.html

the owner should be able to do this kind of stuff without explicitly adding
privs. Any idea? I assume the ORIGINAL owner has full privs, but a set
owner does not. Is this correct?

If so, is there any way to set privs for a new owner without explicitly
listing each table?

Thanks in advance