View from the Observation Deck

1. Standard & Poor's tracks the performance of the dividend-paying issues in the S&P 500 versus the non-paying issues. Shares are weighted equally. 
2. The chart above shows that the dividend-payers have outperformed the non-payers in 10 of the last 12 calendar years.
3. It also shows that the S&P 500 dividend-payers posted negative total returns in just two calendar years (2002 & 2008), while the non-payers posted negative returns in six (2000, 2001, 2002,2007, 2008 & 2011).
4. The number of constituents in the index that pay a dividend has risen from a low of 351 in 2002 to 394 in 2011, according to S&P.
5. The dividend yield on the S&P 500 (market cap-weighted) was 2.12% as of the close of 2011.