Really, we do.

The notion that receiving too much income from companies

might seem strange in a world of ultra-low interest rates.

Yet for UK-listed natural resource companies,

the imperative to deliver shareholders their yield is a big problem.

In general, dividends come out of a company's cash flow

once the finance director has figured out how much she needs to spend on investment

As commodity prices have tumbled,

the free cash flow available for many of these commodity producers is now less than the amount going out for dividends.

Cue sales of mines and oil fields and more debt just to pay off shareholders.

The miners at least have seen the light.

Several of the largest, such as Glencore, Vale, and Anglo American,

decided last year to cut their payouts to preserve cash flow.

If metals prices do stop falling this year, a big "if",

these actions could well stabilize the increasingly precarious financial positions of the miners.

So, good for their long term health

and bad for the unblinking, impassive shareholder who just wants his money

Over the past five years,

mining and energy companies have provided 27% of total dividends for the FTSE 100,

according to Henderson's global income team.

And that is a lot.

As a comparison, the US figure was a third of that amount.

UK-listed miners accounted for about 9% of this FTSE sum,

and their contribution will in fact fall in the year ahead.

Yet, what about the silent Goliaths in the other corner,

who keep shaking their heads when approached about the subject?

A fifth of FTSE dividends will come from these oil and gas companies

really just Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

Indeed that rose a bit last year for UK shareholders

helped by the fact that the two pay in US dollars, and the dollar went up a bit.

In two of the last three years,

both of these supermajors have had to sell assets to help pay for dividends.

That can't continue forever.

In the past week, two US oil companies, Conoco and Anadarko have slashed their own payouts.

Now look, dividend yields for Shell and BP are 8%, their historical highs.

It would seem that the market does want to talk about dividend cuts.