* Behind the scenes: The cliff deal that almost wasn’t
* Bowles & Simpson: “Missed opportunity”
* Bruce Bartlett: When we’ll really get that “grand bargain”
* Paula Dwyer: 10 things you should know about the cliff deal
* Morning Call: U.S. futures surge while European shares climb
* Big deal: Avis buying Zipcar for $500 million
* Everyone in the pool: In 2012 I learned that…
* Dealogic: UK ruled European buyouts in 2012
* Next step: CalSTRS puts firearms investments on agenda
* Hunter Walk: There cannot be one true social graph
* Bob More: Venture capital is a cottage industry that doesn’t scale
* Get Term Sheet: Sign up for our daily email on deals & deal-makers
* Your year-end review could be worse: Federal reprimand for workplace flatulence
* Tweet of the Day: @MattZeitlin I still don’t understand how the fiscal cliff is averted when they punted on sequestration, but that might just be me
* Tweet of last night: @pbump If you’re not watching C-SPAN, you’re missing a victory parade held by people awarded with “Participant” trophies
* One more: @ReformedBroker Difference between the Real Housewives and the House of Reps? One is egomaniacal, money-grubbing and embarrassing, the other is on Bravo.