Amaranth's blowup is due to huge OTC nat gas contracts. Unlike futures trades on exchanges (like NYMEX, CME), OTC trades are not regulated -- "The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 in the waning hours of
the 106th Congress."

So all these speculative bubbles in energy in past 4 years has something to do with too many Texas oilmen in Washington -- and White House?