Several small business owners met in Washington last week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills to talk about their struggles during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The business owners discussed trouble getting credit and government regulations they said are hampering their operations, among other topics.

Woody Hall, the chairman and president of Diversapack, a film manufacturing company operating in several states, said the credit crunch is hampering his company’s growth. “We just opened up a new manufacturing facility employing 50 employees and expected to grow to 150 over the next few years. We basically had no bank financing,” Hall said, according to the Washington Post.

Former chief economist for the World Bank Joseph Stiglitz said exorbitant credit card fees are hurting small businesses and the government needs to address that. According to the Washington Post, Stiglitz said the exchange fee on purchases is “a 2 percent tax on all small businesses. A lot of them have small margins. Imagine you’re got a small margin and you’re giving half of that to banks on exchange fees — how aggravating.”

Geithner acknowledged the government needs to find a way to compel banks to extend more loans to small businesses.

Tags: bank financing, credit, credit card fees, credit crunch, exchange fee, government regulations, loans, Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills, small business owners, Small businesses, tax, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, World Bank Joseph Stiglitz

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