Bric

The shop sells all sorts of bric-à-brac.

In 2001, the financial group Goldman Sachs concluded that Brazil, Russia, India and China would be the "bricks" of the global economy, giving rise to the acronym "BRIC".

India and China are two BRIC bloc countries.

Brazil is one of the BRIC countries.

Russia is one of the BRIC countries.

As Martine courtesied her thanks for this compliment, she backed gracefully, and neither she nor Brenda realized that she was approaching too near a table of bric-à-brac, until it toppled over with a crash.

Now that the financial crisis has derailed BRIC and rich country alike, there are many good reasons for pessimism.