If you're invested in the future of the stock market, this is your wake-up call. Dividends are not the problem. They're part of the solution. Forget the Great Recession. According to fund manager and author Daniel Peris, the real threat to investment returns from stocks is the Great Retreat - a 30-year drop in the dividend payout ratio of the leading corporationsin the United States that has rendered the U.S. stock market a grand casino rather than a business investment platform. Peris believes that profit distributions - the dividends of publicly traded corporations - are the greatest indicators of a business' success. Investors and company executives should focus on them. This is The Dividend Imperative, a bold new vision for anyone interested in having a stronger, broader, and healthier stock market for everyone