"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 corporations in 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's success. Investors and company executives should focus on them."--Publisher.