Small businesses in America account for the creation of 75% of all new jobs. Fully half of all U.S. private sector workers are employed by small businesses, defined as companies with a payroll of 500 or less. This is the fabled main street that headlines tell us is connected to the crippled financial giants on Wall Street.

Over the next few weeks, Global Currents will speak to key executives from Main Street, to inject the views of this critical part of the American economy into the ongoing national dialog that often seems to be dominated by Wall Street and large firms

In this episode, host Sarwar Kashmeri speaks with Tom Gertmenian, Senior Partner of GA Gertmenian and Sons,  a privately held fourth generation rug importing business set up in 1896, about the impact of the current financial crisis on his business.

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