Dividends Are the Key to Slowing Down the Bear By Jim Cramer About this article: The most exciting page in the papers these days is the dividend declaration page. We cheer when a real estate investment trust affirms its dividend. We are shocked when a Freeport McMoRan scraps the whole darned thing. We are awestruck when a company actually announces one for the first time. I marveled at the 6.75-cent increase in Wisconsin Energy's dividend last night. Wow! Now there's one worth grabbing. No kidding: Dividends hold the key to the deceleration of the bear. When I did my analysis of Dow companies and where they could go to this year, I was acutely conscious of how important the dividends are to the sustaining of intra-day November's Dow low of 7350. You will not keep either AT&T or Verizon from their lows if those dividends are in jeopardy. If Procter & Gamble and Johnson and Johnson can't raise... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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