> There was a common headline at the time in newspapers: "apesar da crise", meaning "even though in a crisis", followed by the report of a new market/business sector record in profits.

A couple of months ago in a conversation with a Brazilian colleague of mine, who has been living in europe for some years now, the subject of Brazil's crisis popped up. He told me that, at least when compared with the economic crisis experienced in europe, Brazil's crisis was a crisis in name only, which barely had any impact on the economy in general and disposable income of the average brazilian in particular.

Now, having read your comment, I have to say that it fits precisely with the observations made by my brazilian colleague.