Remember the world on Oct. 9, 2007? That was when the Dow Jones industrial average last set a record high.

It was a headier time back then: pre-financial crisis, pre-bailouts, pre-Great Recession. The stock market still felt like a party. The economy, salaries and investments seemed to go only up. Bernie Madoff was still running his Ponzi scheme. John Edwards was still a viable presidential candidate. Tiger Woods was still only known for his golf.

The Dow, a stock index that is followed as a gauge for the rest of the market, hit its highest close, 14,253.77, on Tuesday. Compare that with the day five years, four months, three weeks and six days ago, when it set its previous high of 14,164.53, and my, how things have changed.