This post is a response to the question "Do you believe that it is possible for economies to adjust to shortages, surpluses, and consumer preferences when they are centrally planned?" posed by 
I don't think it is possible for economies to adjust to shortages, surpluses, and consumer preferences when they are centrally planned. Imagine trying to feed, clean, and lull a baby to sleep at the same time. Even though all of these tasks are geared towards the same thing, if the baby falls into the water while you're trying to clean it, you'll forget about feeding it and lulling it to sleep because something unplanned happened while you were trying to clean it, so you'll focus all of your attention on getting that one task back on track. This is similar to a totalitarian government with central planning when it tries to run a nation. They have to deal with international affairs, peace within its own borders, the economy, and countless other matters. Even though all of these concerns are for the benefit of the nation, when one of those things goes into disarray, the government has to focus more attention on that one thing. Consequently, the other aspects of the nation falter, and it becomes a struggle for the government to balance all of the problems. An example of this failure to rebound from economic hardships with central planning is Venezuela. They transitioned into a socialist country in the early 2000s and "implemented Draconian currency controls..." in an attempt to control the economy and help it thrive. (Gordon) This severely backfired and left the average citizen scrounging for scraps on the street because there were such few goods. In 2022, the Venezuelan people and economy are still trying to recover from the food shortage and economic collapse, with little success. When the government tries to control something as unpredictable and inconsistent as the economy among dealing with other things, they are not only making things harder for all of the people they have to take care of, but also making their job tremendously difficult.
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