WASHINGTON - While all eyes Thursday were on Wall Street's plunge, its cause is being felt across America as the snowballing financial crisis sends an already weak economy into an accelerating decline.

Dispatches from McClatchy newspapers in 30 U.S. cities make it clear that Main Street America is suffering from the deteriorating health of Wall Street. Banks are unable or unwilling to lend amid the growing crisis, and that's deepening the downturn.

In Sacramento, Bertram Chatham runs seasonal Halloween stores that stay open just a few months of the year.

Last year, he received a $26,000 line of credit, but as the credit crunch worsened recently, Wells Fargo cut it, allowing Chatham to tap just $10,000. He's opened one store instead of two this year; that means 30 fewer jobs.

"We didn't understand it; we understand it now. They simply don't have the money to lend," Chatham told The Sacramento Bee.

In North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer reported that Spectrum Yarns closed down plants last week in the towns of Kings Mountain and Marion because of the credit crunch, putting 200 more workers in the lengthening unemployment line.

"In the midst of this national financial crisis, Spectrum has been unable to obtain sufficient financing to keep operations going," C. Douglas Blanchard, the company's CEO, wrote to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Insufficient funds

Santa Margarita, Calif., resident Liz Pauschek recently wrote a $1,500 check to a contractor for a new patio, but the check was returned unpaid from GMAC. When she inquired, the creditor said her line of credit had been frozen because her home's value had declined from a year ago. She had to use a credit card and money from her savings account to pay the bill.

"I explained that I was remodeling because I live there, and they absolutely would not work with me," she said. "They said the housing market is bad and your house isn't worth what it was. Essentially, you're out of luck."

Heininger Holdings, a Bellingham, Wash., maker of automotive accessories such as trailer hitches and bike racks, is feeling the credit crunch ripple across the supply chain.

"We see payments slowing," owner Jeffrey Heininger told the Bellingham Herald. "They look for every tidbit of opportunity to deduct something from the payment, and retail, in the auto-accessories area, is slow. Most continue to ask/demand longer payment terms, as well. Yet, vendors of ours want us to speed up payment terms."

In Modesto, Calif., two longtime area car dealerships -- Friendly Chevrolet in Escalon and Generation Motors in Modesto -- have gone out of business this month.

In South Carolina, William Bradshaw, who owns eight dealerships, has seen sales plunge as buyers are unable to get car loans.

"People who could have gotten loans a few months ago can't," Bradshaw told The State in Columbia, S.C. "Credit has gotten more stringent, rates are up."

Cutting out ice cream

High gasoline prices compound the slowdown.

In Bluffton, near Hilton Head Island, David Folts shuttered his Jack Frost ice cream parlor on Sept. 30.

The souring economy left consumers with less money to spend. But what's really hurt Folts are high gasoline prices that have discouraged driving to his shop and added fuel surcharges to deliveries of his supplies.

"It's so expensive to do business anymore for the small businessman," Folts told The Island Packet. He's holding onto the equipment that he finished paying off months ago, hoping to reopen in better times, because the "entrepreneur in me won't let it go."

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