Australian households were already on edge before the bombs started falling in Iran. The cost of living was high and inflation was accelerating again, forcing the Reserve Bank to start ratcheting up interest rates. It’s clear that this is a time of deep uncertainty and anxiety . Nevertheless, it is striking that more than six in 10 Australians reckon the country is either already in a recession, or will be in the next 12 months, according to a poll conducted for the Nine newspapers . Just 15% thought the country would avoid a deep downturn, while 22% said they were unsure. These results – alongside collapsing consumer confidence – reflect a deep and abiding pessimism in the community about the state of the economy. Graph showing crash in household confidence But the experts do not share this degree of pessimism. Economists, on average, believe there is a 20% chance of recession in the next 12 months, according to a Bloomberg survey. That’s not zero, but it’s only up from 15% leading into the Iran war.…