Main Street America angry over credit crisis

By Andrea Hopkins

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Auto salesman Ryan Thomas is watching the credit crisis hit Main Street America. On Monday, as Congress rejected a bailout plan and stock markets plummeted, Thomas had to turn away a customer with $3,000 in his hand who wanted to buy a new vehicle.

"He wanted to get into a bigger truck for his job, he was a union worker," Thomas said. But the man still owed money on the vehicle he was trading in, so his loan request was denied.

"He didn't have enough money down. He would have needed about $5,500 down and he had $3,000. A year ago that was a piece of cake," Thomas said.

The customer left without his American-made vehicle, Thomas lost another sale -- and somewhere an autoworker made one less truck, a tiny ripple in the growing U.S. financial crisis.

As Wall Street collapses and politicians in Washington struggle to agree on a rescue package, credit markets across America are grinding to a halt, leaving many business owners and would-be borrowers alike without money to get by.

Anger and blame are everywhere. While outraged voters besieged members of Congress with calls and e-mails demanding lawmakers reject a White House plan to bail out a sinking Wall Street, some experts believe the resulting stock crash and credit panic may spur a new rescue campaign.

The House of Representatives voted the plan down on Monday, but top lawmakers said they hoped a revised bailout bill could clear in the near future.

"Some of the folks in Congress ... will start to hear it from the other side now," said Al Kugel, chief investment strategist at Atlantic Trust in Chicago.

Without a new plan, Kugel worries the credit shortage will get worse: "It will be like a boa constrictor has got the economy and just keeps squeezing."

Dallas-area roofing contractor Bill Good has already felt the squeeze. Before times were tough, his bank offered him a $100,000 credit line that he didn't need. Now, with high oil prices doubling the cost of roofing material, he's strapped.

"Now I can't access this kind of money to facilitate my cash flow. The lines of credit ... have dried up," said Good.

Kansas City cabinet maker Anthony Gallo is in a similar bind. Eighteen months ago Gallo had no debt. Now he's being forced to borrow just to make payroll -- just as his chief lender has cut his credit line from $400,000 to $175,000.

"My line of credit has been cut to nothing," said Gallo. "We're all hurting... and wondering what is going to happen."

'NOTHING AVAILABLE'

Retailers are also braced for a slowdown as consumers feel the pinch of reluctant lenders.