Dvidend income disappearing at an alarming rate

Some time ago I wrote a piece entitled Disappearing Income which is one of the most deeply entrenched and hardest to arrest factors contributing to the deflationary spiral that the world economy is facing.

One aspect of this disappearance is seen in the alarming reduction in dividend payouts as evidenced by the following item.

The first quarter was the worst for dividend payouts since 1955, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday. A record 367 of the 7,000 U.S. companies tracked by S&P cut their dividend payments in the first quarter, for a total $77 billion cut in shareholder payouts. "The mammoth $77 billion reduction in dividend payments during the first quarter is eye popping," says Howard Silverblatt, index analyst at S&P.