By David Wetzel New York (Knewz) — Consumer sentiment is declining due to declining inflation-adjusted incomes, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. Rising gas prices helped accelerate the process, the March survey found. The year-ahead predicted inflation rate rose to its highest rate since 1981 and estimated gas prices posted their biggest monthly rise in decades, the survey notes. Therefore, personal finances are expected to worsen this year by the biggest rate since the surveys started in the mid-1940s, according to U-M economist Richard Curtin, director of the sur…