Households across the rich world have never been so gloomy

people felt good. Unemployment was falling, wages were growing, and everyone could eat indoors and travel again. Little surprise, then, that consumer confidence across the rich world was above its long-term average. This summer has been very different. People are astonishingly downbeat—more so even than during the global financial crisis of 2007-09 or the first lockdowns of 2020 (see chart).What has changed? The obvious explanation is a once-in-a-generation surge in inflation. Across the club of mostly rich countries, prices are rising by about 10% a year. Economists dislike inflation; the general public despises it. Many people think that price-gouging firms are taking them for fools.