In Venezuela: We were rich and we did not know

It is common to hear this phrase here in Venezuela almost daily, people from other countries who hear it may imagine that we were all financially rich, from my point of view I will explain, particularly all my life I have been of low economic resources, my father was a bricklayer and my mother cleaned houses, so I got ahead to my and my four brothers, however despite the poverty in which we lived my mother cleaned a house and the next day we were eating chicken or meat, rice or pasta, at Christmas we ate typical Christmas dishes, we painted the house, however I was frustrated and cried as a child with a huge desire to grow to support my family and help my parents. Currently my brothers and I are professionals, we have good jobs, but we are still financially poor product of the socio-economic reality that we live in this country where hyperinflation reigns and therefore we do not have purchasing power, I remember that at Christmas 2016 it was the first time in my life we did not make hallacas (typical Christmas dish) and that we did not paint our house, which saddened me a lot, many things have been lost, including the joy of Christmas; So we are the majority of Venezuelans, therefore, the phrase "we were rich and we did not know it" because before we were poor we could eat good dishes, with the effort of buying some appliance, clothes, shoes, now it is almost impossible.