Imagine a situation where the entire machinery is hanging by one single hair. It might or might not come crashing down any second. You hold your breath.危機 is THE famous word for crisis, "consisting of the characters for danger and opportunity".
Well, it's not entirely true, and it's not really false either. 危 does indicate danger, and 機 means "machinery" but it can also mean a "crossroad situation", a "chancy or risky moment".
"The financial crisis has turned the race between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama into an audition for who could best handle a national economic emergency." -- Finance Crisis Is Posing on-the-Fly Tests -- The New York Times
"Both candidates doubtless wish to tackle the crisis. But they cannot, since neither will be in charge until January and the crisis must be tackled immediately. So each is trying to sound as if he would knock some sense into Wall Street, while tut-tutting that the other fellow supported the policies that got America into this mess in the first place." -- The financial crisis and the election, The Economist
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't believe the current economic situation is that dire, 危機一髮 dire.
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