Guess what? US households were dejected early this month amid surging fuel costs and generalized disaffection with the economy 20 months into Donald Trump’s new American “golden age.”

The preliminary read on University of Michigan sentiment for September was a God-awful 47.8, worse even than the most pessimistic guess from dozens of economists who get paid multiples of a first responder’s salary to be wrong about economic aggregates (and we wonder why people are so furious).

September marks the second consecutive monthly decline. The implication: Even if Trump’s “much happier” with America’s position vis à vis Iran following the collapse of the MOU and “couldn’t care less” if negotiations to end the conflict resume, Americans aren’t (happier) and do (care if there’s a deal to end the stalemate).

As the simple figure shows, the Michigan headline’s more or less on the record lows in data going back half a century.

“Year-ahead expectations for both personal finances and business conditions plunged,” survey director Joanne Hsu said, in the editorial accompanying the release. “With a resurgence in fuel prices and trade tensions, consumers anticipate greater pressures on their pocketbooks to come.”

Although the current conditions subindex only slipped a point from August, the expectations gauge fell sharply, to 45.8. The all-time low on the forward-looking metric was 44.1 in May. The long-term average is 78.

The figure above says it all: Americans have never — not during the 2022 inflation and not even during the GFC — been this consistently pessimistic about the outlook.

Inflation expectations rose sharply, to 4.6%, at the one-year horizon in Friday’s release. The closely-watched “next five” metric rose to 3.4%.

“Opinions of the government’s economic policy worsened [and] remain substantially below February 2026, just prior to the Iran conflict,” Hsu went on. “Notably, even Republicans, who generally supported economic policy under the current administration, have exhibited a marked decline in favorability.”

Fortunately, Trump has a plan: Paying every US adult $5,000 to vote Republican.