But wait, there's more!...  

Farmers like me just got a second batch of Christmas presents. They may not be very good for us, but like all the candy, cookies, etc of the last few days, it is hard not to smile.

Assuming the House passes the fiscal cliff compromise today, grain producers can only fall into the Big Winner category, if winning means paying as little to the government and getting as much as possible.

Vanna - show them what they've won:

• The Estate Tax fix is about as good as could have been hoped. The exemption was left at $5M per person, although the rate rises to 40%. Very few won't be able to ease around that burden. The big sleeper bonus is retention of the basis step-up.
• Taxes go up on households over $450,000. Thanks to skyrocketing input costs (heh), that may not affect very many of us either. AMT is fixed, which more of us might be exposed to.
• Payroll tax goes back to where it should be. That was pretty well baked in the cake. Capital gains gores up for those over $450K, along with the new ACA tax on investment income of 3.8%. Not great news but, not terrible either.
  
• Another year of depreciation goodies (tax extenders). (Memo to self: get that last big tile job done!)

But here is the most unbelievable - and undeserved - bonanza: another round of deficiency payments!

In summary, I was wrong and right in my predictions. We technically did go over the cliff, but Congress apparently is moving the cliff.