Actually life was pretty good for Romanians during the "Golden Age" compared to the rest of the communist period. The problem was that we lived on credit just like Americans and when it came time to pay it, things started falling off. Ceaușescu didn't invest wisely the money from the IMF, so he started exploiting everything and everyone to the max until the debt was paid off. Just a few months afterwards the Revolution happened and he was trialed and sentenced to death.