10 ways the 'fiscal cliff' fix affects you

Item #4: It's a 47.6% increase, not 2%....OR, it is 2 PERCENTAGE POINTS. Time for the DesNews to review some math basics, I guess.

Thanks for fixing it. :)

Funny how so many Conservatives spout individual responsibility (I agree) and no subsidies for the poor (I agree to a degree), but, "oh, don't you dare take away my milk subsidy, milk could cost $8 a gallon." So we Socialize the milk industry in the form of higher taxes to help the dairy farmers not raise prices on the tax payers subsidizing them. Let the free market rule. The cure for high prices is higher prices. Here's what happens every time: 1) people vote with their feet and find alternatives. 2) supplies drop and sellers make less. 3) Sellers or producers find ways to attract customers through innovation and economizing. 4) Fewer buyers and supply goes up. 5) Attracting customers and... the price goes down . 5)elimination of subsidies and we eliminate the bureaucracy running the subsidies. Together these reductions cut the cost of government and if we had an honest president, the borrowing would drop and the rate of interest of GDP would drop, eventually allow an honest congress (its not) to lower taxes. Ah, the fairyland I live in. (I lived in the USSR so know the other side.)

Hey, this is Obama's deal, designed to protect the democratic part and create divisiveness. Obama is all about entitlements for votes. Remember he won Wisconsin... the biggest milk producing state in the county. Me I don't drink milk... it's not good for you. As a one percent-er, my taxes will go up by about 30K and with Obamacare another 20K. Add the capital gains tax increase, another 15 K and guess what, two to three people just lost their jobs! Yes, I'm a capitalist and I didn't risk all that I had to build a business to give it away! I plan on having something for retirement and my posterity, not some lazy bugger that wants the government to take care of them.

Milk is healthy for you, to say otherwise is foolish. However, I don't disagree with everything else.

Rockon: I am conservative and a milk drinker and I'd be happy to have the subsidy end.

I'm not convinced you or anyone else would though, because everything that milk touches would also skyrocket in price. Remember, that cheese is a milk product. So is yogurt. Consider all the baked goods that include milk. Cream, butter, some baby formulas, ice cream, gelato. And then, restaurants would also have to raise prices to cover the new higher expense for milk products. You think it only affects a handful of individuals, but it is much broader than you are willing to admit.

Milk prices would not stay that high for long if the subsidiary was removed. Many people, myself included, would stop buying milk if it was $8 a gallon. Demand would decrease, forcing prices down. The market would settle on a price that probably is not much higher than it is now. Maybe some milk producers would drop out of the market, due to diminished profits, which would decrease supply. This is the main reason the price of milk wouldn't drop to current levels. But if milk producers want to actually sell milk, the price of milk would not be able to be as high as the dairy lobby says it would be without the subsidy. RockOn, most true conservatives recognize this and, like me, would love to have the milk subsidy (along with pretty much all federal subsidies) removed. And I am a milk lover.

Item #4 is partially correct. Self-employed workers pay 15.3 cents per dollar for Social Security and Medicare, but workers employed by a company pay 7.65 cents per dollar with the other 7.65 cents paid by the employer. For those that earn a lot of money per year they are only taxed on their earnings up to $113,700 for 2013.

Many working Americans will have an unpleasant surprise when they receive their first paycheck in 2013 due to the payroll tax holiday expiring. When this deal was sold to Americans they forgot to mention this detail. Selling a plan that raises taxes on all working Americans would have been very unpopular. But, in defense of Congress this isn't technically a tax hike, rather allowing a temporary tax cut to expire.

Matt4226: Your suggestion that employees don't pay the full 15.3 cents is a mistake. Yes, on the books and for accounting purposes, the employer "pays" half the amount. But if the taxes weren't withheld, the employer could give the full amount to the employee.

I can only hope that after a concession by the republicans, Obama will be true to his word and will balance things out with equal cuts to spending. We have a spending problem, not a taxing problem. I am okay paying more in taxes if the deficit is reduced and taxes can be decreased after that occurs. If this spending spree is going to continue, we are in trouble.