Can this marriage be saved?

You’re at a dinner party. Your hostess regales you with a long, meandering tale of her recent back surgery. It ends with attempted humor: she laughs and glances at you. You laugh in response, trying to convey an appreciation for her humor that you don’t actually feel.... With your spouse of 25 years, you can simply stare at him stony-faced when he tells you his favorite “funny” story yet again.

If the story makes my spouse happy, it makes me happy, and I'll at least smile at that.

The middle class is...

A couple of days ago, Megan McArdle said she'd prefer

a single entitlement system that takes care of people who are actually destitute and unable to work, not this mad scheme whereby America's middle class is supposed to get rich by picking its own pockets.

Conn Carroll chimes in,

In order to pay for all their entitlement programs, the middle class is going to have to pay more, too.