Well, America's rich, the fiscal cliff compromise that bumped the top effective income tax rate from 35% to 39.6% could have been a lot worse. The deal could have taken all of it and more. 

McDonald's (MCD) competitors don't need to badmouth Ronald to his face when the man on the street is more than happy to do it for them.

Business Insider reports that sandwich chain Subway conducted a survey recently asking 1,001 people which restaurant chain's bag they were most embarrassed to carry on the street: Taco Bell (YUM), McDonald’s, Subway, or Wendy's (WEN). Subway got 11% of the vote, Wendy’s got 14%, Taco Bell received 33%, and McDonald’s garnered an unfortunate 42%.

The objectivity of a poll conducted by a direct competitor is in serious doubt, but the responses are interesting nonetheless. A full 48% of all women polled said that they didn't want to be seen in public with a McDonald’s bag. It's a similar story among the key 18-to-34 demographic, of which 46% said the McDonald's bag was a mark of shame.

 

Shares of General Motors (GM), Detroit's largest automaker, have surged more than 17% this year, eclipsing their $33 IPO price. That's mostly thanks to strong performances in the U.S. and China. The stock's appreciation, however, won't be enough to make U.S. taxpayers, who still own about 16% of the company, whole on their investment.

As the The Wall Street Journal noted, Uncle Sam would need to sell the government's GM shares at about $79 apiece to break even on the bailout. Even with its recent run-up, the stock on Monday afternoon traded around $33.75, nowhere near that level. The paper said the Treasury Department plans to exit GM by April 2014. Unless GM introduces an affordable electric car that doubles as a supersonic jet, odds are remote that the stock will reach that level before the planned sale. 

A beer once notorious for being cheap isn't cheap anymore? Blame the hipsters! 

Get ready for the latest twist in the Obamacare overhaul: the spread of bare-bones health insurance plans. 

When the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, employers with more than 50 full-time workers will be required to provide health insurance plans. Some companies are crying foul, pointing to the $15,75 annual premium for employer-sponsored family health plans as unsustainable.

Enter the Band-Aid health insurance policy. These low-benefit plans, which cover preventive services but often skip coverage for surgery, X-rays and hospitalization, are being pitched to companies as a way to meet the letter of the law while avoiding a government fine, according to The Wall Street Journal.

 

Although Yahoo (YHOO) promised in its press release announcing its $1 billion acquisition of Tumblr to not screw up the hugely popular blogging site, many users are worried the Internet publisher will do precisely that.

As TechCrunch noted, some Tumblr users have launched a petition that it hopes will attract 5 million backers to stop the acquisition, though odds of derailing it are remote. One user with the handle  of "thesexygiraffes" is quoted as saying the acquisition "is actually stressing me out."

This view isn't unique. As Kara Swisher noted on AllThingsD, imports from Tumblr to WordPress on Sunday hit 72,000 in one hour, up from a typical 400 to 600. 

David Karp will soon be very rich.

The 26-year-old New Yorker is selling Tumblr, the blogging platform he started in his mother's apartment in 2007. Yahoo (YHOO) is buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, which vaults Karp into the small club of computer geeks who became instant mega-millionaires in corporate buyouts.

Here are eight things you may not know about Karp:

1. He dropped out of high school and didn't go to college. He spent just one year at the Bronx High School of Science before dropping out, reports The New York Daily News. He was home-schooled for the remainder of his high school education.

2. He already lives well. He has a $1.6 million loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that he shares with girlfriend Rachel Eakley, a graduate student studying psychology. 

Mike Bloomberg, the outspoken mayor of New York City and the ultrawealthy founder of the financial data and media company that bears his name, is turning his attention to another of society's woes: the rising cost of a college education. 

Bloomberg, known for his battle against large, sugary sodas, offered some advice to students during his weekly radio show Friday, according to the New York Daily News. 

"The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren't rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class," Bloomberg said. "Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College -- being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal."