Henderson was great while growing up. I hiked the deserts, climbed the mountains, caught lizards and tarantulas and nearly died of heatstroke at least a dozen times.

Now, it’s an overdeveloped suburb. It’s part of the U.S.’s overdependence on oil and will die a miserable death when gas prices get too high.

The downward spiral: Gas prices skyrocket; Tourism dips; casinos close; unemployment gets high; people move away; housing busts; the half of the county supported by building new housing moves away; houses stand empty.

Another possibility is Water gets scarce and almost the same thing as above happens. Basically, once the self-propelling housing market hiccups, Vegas is going to bust. Big time.