Tom Munnecke’s Eclectica

Civic Ventures announced this week the opening of nominations for the 2007 Purpose Prize, a major initiative that invests in Americans over 60 who are leading a new age of social innovation.

The Purpose PrizeTM provides five awards of $100,000 and ten awards of $10,000 to people over 60 who are taking on society?s biggest challenges. It?s for those with the passion and creativity to discover new opportunities, the experience to come up with practical solutions, and the determination to make lasting change.

Winners in 2006 addressed problems such as intolerance, racial disparities in preventable deaths, job opportunities for the disabled, housing needs of the elderly poor, and the disrupted lives of children with a parent in jail.

Who will take the Prize in 2007?
Make your nomination now at www.purposeprize.org.
Nominations will close on February 1.

Send questions to info@leadwithexperience.org.

I just got a call from Bank of America, who after a lengthy introduction about the rising identity theft problem, offered to send me a free credit report and start a “service” to monitor my credit activities.

Rather than call this “Identity Theft”, I think we need to call it “Promiscous Credit.” Banks are issuing credit lines to nearly anyone with a little information, and refusing to instigate procedures to verify the credit line with consumer. They will simply issue the credit; if there is a problem, the push the problem off to the consumer.

This is protection racket, not to far removed from a mafia character offering to “protect” your restaurant from an “accidental” fire.

The identity theft problem could go away in an instant if we just were more careful about issuing credit.