Business

Throughout the fiscal cliff drama, business leaders pressed Washington for a deal. But the limited nature of the bill that passed is unlikely to make many business leaders happy.

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From NPR News, it's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

I'm Robert Siegel. And here's a case of an old business colossus buying up a scrappy innovator. Avis, the traditional car rental company, is buying Zipcar for $500 million. Zipcar is the car-sharing company with the slogan: Wheels when you want them. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports the deal illustrates how car sharing is reshaping the rental business and drawing in a new demographic.

You might have thought the intense partisan negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff were all about who wins and who loses when it comes to taxes and government programs.

And that assessment would be essentially correct — but some of the winners might strike you as a bit odd.

Tucked away in the bill's obscure cul-de-sacs are a bevy of obscure tax and spending provisions. We picked five for your perusal. Here goes:

Suddenly, the new year is looking a bit brighter — at least in the eyes of most economists and investors.

On Day 1 of 2013, Congress voted to veer away from the "fiscal cliff" by passing a package of provisions that avoided broad tax hikes and big spending cuts. And on Day 2, stock prices shot up.

Though more big battles lie ahead in Washington, Wall Street is following the lead of financial markets around the world in giving a thumbs-up to the deal that kept the federal government from going completely over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Unwanted telemarketing calls, trademarked for interrupting dinners across the nation, have become such a nuisance over the years that the Federal Trade Commission is calling for help to stop the illegal robocalls.

The agency receives more than 200,000 complaints a month about the prerecorded messages, which offer everything from credit cards to new medications.

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And our last word in business might make you hungry. It's crispity, crunchity Butterfinger, as in the peanut butter and chocolate candy bar, which designated the year 2013 as its 90-ish birthday.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

That's 90-ish because, while there is a trademark document that dates back to 1928, the company believes the candy bar was first promoted in 1923. So, you know, 85, 90, 90-ish is what the people at Nestle settled on as Butterfinger's official age.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm David Greene.

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And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Let's talk about everything that was left out of the fiscal cliff compromise approved by Congress yesterday. The measure does raise taxes for the wealthy and preserve tax cuts for others, and extend unemployment insurance again, among other things. But it left a huge amount of fighting for the New Year.

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Let's begin NPR's business news with some fiscal deal details.

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GREENE: You might remember over the holiday season, we delved into some of the tax credit lawmakers were considering changing as part of a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. We called it our 12 Days of Deductions.