The majority of small business owners are not expecting conditions to improve over the next six months, according to the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Economic Trends survey. The survey shows an Optimism Index reading of 86.5. That's down 1.3 from last month, but still up from its lowpoint of 81.0 in March: The report's authors, William Dunkelberg and Holly Wade , point to a general feeling of recession fatigue by consumers and business owners: Optimism faded a bit for consumers and business owners over the past few months, primarily due to weaker expectations about economic growth. This is a bit unexpected in light of the increasing frequency of reported good signs about the economy and the stock market. Assuming the recession started in January 2008, we have been in recession 19 months, far longer than the post-war average of nine months and the end is still illusively in the future. For consumers and business owners, “emergency” reserves are depleted, jobs have not returned, and the stimulus seems to have failed on the ground (even if observers agree its effects are yet to come, expectations were set for a quick rescue). The recession is wearing Main Street folks down. Read the full report here .