One option is to reimpose capital controls for a temporary period (which would punish speculators but might reduce confidence in the financial markets).
Less promisingly, he may reimpose capital-gains tax on the sale of shares held by one company in another, which was abolished at the start of this year.
"We can't envision a scenario in which the U.S. Congress will want to reimpose" the tax on married couples and the tax on estates, said a senior administration official.
But a plan to trim public servants' pensions was over-ruled last year by the Supreme Court, and presidential aides doubt they can persuade Congress to change the constitution to reimpose the reductions.
The second use of that power, by his likely chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, should be to reimpose an official grip on the economy without thought of special interests or electoral pay-offs.
Given the shock and awe expressed by many Baghdad businessmen at the scale of the changes, it is not clear that such a future regime would be able to resist pressures to reimpose protectionism.