It's still early in the third quarter of 2017, but compared to the third quarter of a year ago, distressed U.S. firms experiencing distress are cutting their dividends at a slightly accelerated pace.

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Compared to the two previous quarters of 2017 however, 2017-Q3 is seeing a faster pace of dividend cuts than 2017-Q2 did, but is about on the same pace as 2017-Q1.

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Looking at the firms that have announced dividend cuts in 2017-Q3 into 25 July 2017, all but one are concentrated in the oil and gas sector of the U.S. economy. The one that wasn't in that industry is the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), a private equity firm that has been recognized as being "the largest owner of real estate in the world", which acquired much of its current holdings with the active assistance and encouragement of both the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve during what we've previously described as the initial inflation phase of the second U.S. housing bubble.