Some of the biggest casualties during last year's bear market were dividend-paying stocks. After more than a year of seeing many companies slash dividend payments, it now appears that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Washington, September 9 -- Indicating that a recovery from the unrelenting economic recession may still be a distant dream, Federal Reserve’s data revealed that consumers in the United States borrowed a record $21.6 billion less from financial institutions in the month of July.

Ignore what you've heard about the so-called death of buy-and-hold investing. It's nonsense. Until proven otherwise, U.S. investors who make the most money over the long term invest in common stocks.

Last week, an audit by the TARP program's government watchdog suggested that a wide majority (83%) of banks that have received TARP investments had, in fact, put some of the funds to work by lending them out. That may well be true, but recently released second-quarter results show that the amount of total loans at the largest banks -- all TARP recipients -- fell during the period:

Though some optimism has crept into the news lately, there are still plenty of people who seem to be declaring the death of stock investing, suggesting that returns from equities over the long term haven't lived up to the hype. But fear not, dear Fool -- rumors of the death of equities have been greatly exaggerated.

New York, June 18: President Barack Obama has unveiled a proposal to revive the nation's battered financial system.

A sputtering economy, implosions at financial institutions, or just plain bad management -- on any given day, investors can name a number of reasons to sell a stock. Yet while panic is never beneficial to investors, it's good practice to play devil's advocate with investments from time to time.