"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

The above quote from Dickens' masterpiece, "A Tale of Two Cities", provides an eloquent summary for many aspects of today's society: the domestic economy, the global economy, the ever growing partisanship in Washington D.C., the accelerating prevarication by extremes in both political parties, the future of Great Britain, the integrity of the Euro bloc, the White House's relationship with the media, governmental regulation, healthcare, and even the relative performance within the capital markets. The closing words of "superlative degree of comparison only" seem especially apropos given that the capital markets have provided some superlative numbers to discuss.

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