The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Pengrowth Energy ($2.44), while apparently long on potential, it has fallen short on reward. Globe columnists Benj Gallander and Ben Stadelmann write that the stock crested $27 and once paid a dividend of 25 cents a month. Pengrowth was one company in the oil patch that initially benefited from the creation of income trusts, which arrived on Canadian soil in 1985. Alas, the party came to an end in 2006, when Jim Flahert put in place a 34-per-cent tax on income trust distributions. Pengrowth and many other companies in the income trust sphere were effectively recruiting shareholders to pay themselves in a Ponziish manner, as the corporations offered huge payouts without earnings to support them. No worries; more shares would be sold to cover the dividends. Of course, then more money would be needed to cover the diluted share counts, and ultimately, in most cases, this was unsustainable. As in the case of Pengrowth, the dividend was chopped again and again. The columnists would not be surprised at $70 (U.S.) oil, and if that happens, people throwing their money into companies in this arena now should profit handsomely as long as they choose survivors.