Mills was banging the drum for the Obama administration, which has been arguing, against strong Republican resistance, for additional government spending to support the clearly weakening economic recovery.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided money that allowed the SBA to reduce fees to borrowers and to boost the loan guarantee for lenders to 90 percent from 75 percent for most loans. Average weekly loan volume soared 90 percent after those breaks went into effect, the SBA said.
The authorization for fee waivers, which saved Vetri some $14,000, is in place through September, but the 90-percent guarantee expired at the end of May.
That evidently made the program less attractive to banks. "In the last six weeks, we've had a 60 percent drop in our volume. That shows you the Recovery Act was working, but that we need to continue it," said Mills, citing Vetri's creation of 62 full-time jobs through the loan for Amis.
Economists say that at this stage during most economic recoveries, small business has led the job market. But this time, small businesses are not hiring as they have in the past. Mills blamed that on the tight loan market, but small-business surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business have found that slow demand for goods and services is more of a deterrent to hiring than difficulty in getting loans.
Vetri said the job market for restaurant workers was remarkably different in early 2007, when he opened Osteria on North Broad Street, from early 2010, when Amis debuted. His third place is the eponymous Vetri on Spruce Street.
