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Why did Arizona and Nevada do so much worse than the rest of the US, with real estate markets declining earliest in the areas of Las Vegas and Phoenix (including Scottsdale, Glendale, etc)? Why did Alaska do so much better?

Alaska is an energy-rich state. The desert metros of Las Vegas and Phoenix are energy-poor places (without any major local sources of fuel) and are also very sensitive to rising energy prices because of the cost of summer cooling and long commutes due to suburban sprawl.

1999-2008: oil prices rose about 1200%

So, energy-sensitive sprawling desert metros were hit hardest economically by the fuel spike of 1999-2008, in which crude oil prices rose from $11 to $148 (a rise of about 1200% in less than a decade). In contrast, energy-rich places like Alaska, Alberta (Canada), and the Middle East (including Arabia) either thrived economically or became the focus of intense conflicts over access to fuel resources.

See:

Group Warns Of Fuel Price Crisis (confused.com)

Note that fuel prices were higher in California and Hawaii than in Arizona or Nevada. It's not that gas prices were higher in the desert metros than anywhere else in the world. But it is interesting to notice the differences between various places in regard to when fuel prices rose (of all kinds of energy, not just gasoline) and when they fell.

Fuel prices top UK protest poll (confused.com)

In places like South Carolina, gasoline prices tend to be at least one dollar cheaper than in California or Arizona. High demand (scarcity) plus the higher cost of delivering fuel over long distances contribute to gas prices in places like the UK being dozens of times the price in oil-rich places like Venezuela Turkmenistan, or even Iraq or Iran. In some of the most oil-rich places, there are not very many cars or roads. So, of course there is not much demand there and with a huge abundance of fuel, gas prices have stayed below $1.00 per gallon in many parts of the world, and even below $.15 per gallon in Venezuela. In contrast, fuel prices surged way past $10 per gallon in the UK in 2008, where demand for gasoline is growing fast and fuel sources (domestic production) are shrinking fast, forcing fuel-starved Brits to follow the path of fuel-scarce Japan (which has been in economic decline for 23 years now).

Note that stock markets (and real estate prices) have plunged in Japan since 1989.

Could the fact that Japan is one of the nations that are most dependent on imported fuels by a factor in Japan's economy slowing more than a decade before the economic decline that later spread to the UK, US, and the entire EU? Could the fuel-dependency of Japan (and Italy) not only have led to troubled economies in recent years, but to the geo-political military alignment of those two countries during World War 2 (as well as energy-poor Germany, which began the war by invading the energy-rich USSR, which then was defended by it's allies, the UK and US)?

As a note, before I give you the opportunity to contact me so that you can learn more about what I am noticing now about economic trends that many other people may not recognize for several years, I'd like to emphasize that I do not think of fuel prices as being primarily a political issue. I'll briefly address that and then give a link to more information.

Note: US gas prices declined in real terms (adjusting for inflation) throughout the 20th century, but apparently that changed in 1999, as forecast by many competent forecasters (as distinct from the majority of people forecasting price trends, who made inaccurate forecasts or presumptions). Those who were expecting the change in trends could position themselves early to benefit by receiving the shift in wealth caused by an easily predictable change.

Again, I will give you an opportunity to contact me soon. First, consider that the two nations that came to prominence in the 20th century had extremely different political systems: the USA and the USSR. Neither was a major influence in international politics or imperialism during the 19th century. However, by the middle of the 20th century, those two nations with very different political systems were the two dominant “superpowers” not only of global economics but global politics.

So, what did the US and USSR have in common? Why did those two nations in particular rise in global prominence so much in the 20th century? To find out the simple answer, go to the US vs USSR page now.