But the agent-principal conflict shows up in every kind of business. You hire a plumber, and you have to accept that he can a) just do the job right, b) waste a

But the agent-principal conflict shows up in every kind of business. You hire a plumber, and you have to accept that he can a) just do the job right, b) waste a lot of time, and still get it done, and charge you extra (how are you supposed to know?), or c) experiment with some awesome wrenching and piping methodology he picked up in the latest issue of Plumber Weekly. The difference between the plumber and Amaranth is that it's much easier to quantify when Amaranth is screwing around. Even before a blowup, some strategies have a 'signature' -- high leverage + low volatility + long illiquidity + short liquidity, for example -- that can tell you ahead of time when you're dealing with a crafty gambler.