Who feels the financial meltdown?

The LA Times today offered more insight into how the disappearance of certain kinds of credit hurt ordinary people, especially small business owners. As I said yesterday, I've been trying to get a grasp of what all this means in human terms. A quote:

As lenders tighten their fists and consumers tighten their belts, businesses from small restaurants to industry titans such as AT&T are getting squeezed.

Some are slicing inventory as they struggle to find financing to buy new merchandise. Others, unable to get loans to cover payroll and operating costs, are laying off employees or closing their doors. Even businesses that have healthy revenue and are up to date on their payments are having their loans called in or their interest rates raised. ...

... the National Small Business Assn. reported that 67% of small businesses said in August that they had been affected by the credit crunch -- and that was before September's market turmoil. The number of small businesses using bank loans was at a 15-year low and 32% said their loan terms were getting worse. The same was happening with credit card rates, 63% said.

Specific examples illustrated business that couldn't make payroll -- so had laid off workers, and business owners who had good credit and lines of credit on tap, but with banks that failed. And so it goes...

The article: Credit freeze puts businesses on thin ice by Marla Dickerson, Tiffany Hsu and Jerry Hirsch in today's LA Times.