According to Standard & Poor's, companies in the S&P 500 are expected to have cut their dividends by 21% for the year 2009 compared with 2008. According to USA Today's Matt Krantz, "That's the worst year for dividend cuts on a dollar basis, and the worst on a percentage basis since the 39% cut in 1938."

It could take years before dividends rebound to the levels of past years -- and that is likely to be driven as much by suspicion of share buybacks as by increased generosity on the part of corporate boards.

The New York Times reports that dollar stores are thriving as consumers look to pinch pennies: "The nation's dollar stores, those once-dowdy chains that lured shoppers by selling some or all of their merchandise for $1, are suddenly hot. They are busily opening new stores, outfitting existing stores with refrigerators and freezers, and sprucing up their aisles with better lighting, fresh paint and new signs."

Shares of Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) have been strong performers as the company's same-store sales numbers have been terrific and the company plans ambitious new store opening plans. KKR's $7.3 billion acquisition of Dollar General in March of 2007 looks like one of the few good buyout deals to have come at the peak of that boom.