I think the reason everyone avoids the issue is that it's impossible to give general advice. The amount of stock you should give to a new hire depends on how valuable he is, and how valuable the company is. The amount of stock given to the first hire could range from 1% to 50% or perhaps even more.

Most startups don't pay dividends. Even Microsoft barely does. Owning 10% of a technology startup basically means you get 10% of the proceeds if the company gets bought, or hold 10% of the now tradeable shares if it goes public.

Someone holding 51% could pay himself all the company's profits as salary only if the company hadn't taken substantial investment. Otherwise the investors would have protection against such abuses as part of the deal terms, and the employees would thus be protected too.