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Small business owners are fighting on New York’s inflation frontline
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…