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THIS OLD STOCK CERTIFICATE REALLY PAYS DIVIDENDS

By
Post Staff Report
Published July 8, 2007, 9:00 a.m. ET

Dear John: I have a stock certificate for Southwestern Bell. The original transfer agent was the Bank of New York, but they don’t know anything about the stock now. Please tell me what happened to this company. A.F.

Dear A.F.: The journey of all these former AT&T companies is truly dizzying. But you’ll be happy to know that Southwestern Bell not only still exists but it has come full circle. And, most important, your shares are alive and well.

Southwestern Bell Corporation was renamed SBC Inc. in 1995. But in 2005, SBC acquired AT&T. But then SBC abandoned its name and is now known as AT&T.

“Your reader’s stock certificates are still valid and do not need to be exchanged. However, if she would like new certificates, your reader should follow the following procedure,” says a spokesman for the new AT&T (and the old SBC).

Mail the unsigned certificates with a letter of instruction requesting that AT&T issue new certificates to: AT&T Inc. Stockholder Services, c/o Computershare Trust Company, N.A., P.O. Box 43070, Providence, RI 02940-3070.

AT&T says you should send the certificates with a return receipt requested, or by some other form of traceable mail. And insure the certificates against loss. The certificates should be insured for 3 percent of their current value, or a minimum of $20.

To calculate the current value of the stock, go to http://www.att.com/investor.relations.

Isn’t life great when solutions to problems are this easy?

Dear John: I have always wondered something. Since the government collects hard data on jobs with every paycheck, through Social Security and income tax, why can’t it just report hard numbers instead of estimates? B.D.

Dear B.D.: Why do we still go into a curtained off voting booth and pull a lever to elect officials? Why don’t we just do it electronically?

The answer: because the government moves about as fast as Midtown New York traffic on a theater matinee day.

John Williams, an economist who follows the labor numbers closely, says the government does use Social Security and tax receipts to track jobs. But even in today’s technologically advanced society, the tax and Social Security numbers don’t come in fast enough to satisfy the traders on Wall Street.

Williams, a critic of government statistics who writes ShadowStats.com, says the government does use physical numbers to count jobs but only months later.

In fact, the government also uses some corporate numbers for the so-called “payroll survey” from which it gets the monthly unemployment rate.

Send your questions to Dear John, The N.Y. Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, N.Y., N.Y., 10036, or [email protected].