Why do I get "permission denied" errors with Python easy_install?

I'm an Ubuntu newbie and have been trying to install python's easy_install so that I don't have to deal with source files when install Python libraries.

I"ve ran the following, and it seems to install the correct applications:

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

However, when i run easy_install sqlalchemy or easy_install pysqlite3, it doesn't work.

I get the following error message:

install_dir /usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/
error: can't create or remove files in install directory

The following error occurred while trying to add or remove files in the
installation directory:

    [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/test-easy-install-1674.pth'

The installation directory you specified (via --install-dir, --prefix, or
the distutils default setting) was:

    /usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/

Perhaps your account does not have write access to this directory?  If the
installation directory is a system-owned directory, you may need to sign in
as the administrator or "root" account.  If you do not have administrative
access to this machine, you may wish to choose a different installation
directory, preferably one that is listed in your PYTHONPATH environment
variable.

For information on other options, you may wish to consult the
documentation at:

  http://packages.python.org/distribute/easy_install.html

Please make the appropriate changes for your system and try again.

Help!

Abraham