Readers React: Is the American Dream an debt-fueled illusion?

Real estate values are rising past their prior gluttonous high, apartment rents have gone beyond affordability, consumers are piling up debt on their credit cards, real employment has nowhere near sufficiently recovered, those employed are suffering wage stagnation, total student loan debt in the U.S. has passed $1 trillion and government aid dependency is at an all-time high. (“Consumer borrowing in March saw largest increase in more than a year,” Business, May 7)

America the beautiful? Instead, this is a vast illusion, one that seems so beautiful, like a rainbow; and appealing, like cheese in a trap to a mouse.

None of this is relevant because the few that see this worry little, since they consider it a future not sufficiently immediate to touch their lives materially — which is also an illusion.

Michael E. White

Burbank