But the scale of collapse was broadened and deepened by the freezing up of the machinery of global finance, a dramatic collapse in confidence and stock-slashing.

ECONOMIST: World economy

There, a lack of proper oversight and transparency nearly led to the collapse of the financial markets and a full-scale Depression.

WSJ: Barack Obama: Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System

They also point out that the country has enough foreign-exchange reserves and cash in hand to survive until after the election, unless there is a wholesale collapse of confidence among Brazilians, leading to large-scale capital flight.

ECONOMIST: Latin American markets

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the maximum challenge the United States faced came from regional adversaries on the scale of Iraq and Afghanistan.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | The Measure of a Superpower: A Two Major Regional Contingency Military for the 21st Century | Page: 2