Much of my mental energy these days is going into trying to buy a condo. Nerve-wracking stuff for anyone who finds financial matters somewhat distasteful, as the average academic tends to do. Now they say we might be in the midst of a housing bubble, analogous to the internet bubble of recent memory. There’s even a website devoted exclusively to the possibility. Bubbles, of course, tend to burst, leaving the chewer all sticky and embarrassed. (Or poor, as the case may be.) But on the other hand there’s a claim this could never happen in Chicago, what with our diversified economy and benevolent dictatorship. Is this a crazy thing to be doing right now?