They cut hours, slashed budgets, raised prices —anything to keep their doors open. There were no extra pots of money and no more government loans. They were small-business owners, and if they’d had good years and not so good years, now they were having a very, very bad year.  On top of that, their customers thought they were price-gouging, which was laughable and infuriating at the same time.  “They’re just redirecting their anger, because I’m the only point for them,” says Hamza El Jamal, a garage- and gas-station owner in upstate New York. “I tell them, ‘I don’t know if you’ve watched the news anytime recently, but this isn’t exactly…