[vandreas2]

Perhaps the disastrous outcomes were not a result of central planning per se, but the skewed incentives that central planning mandated. Not sure if central planning can work differently though, probably it's first goal is self preservation.

[WalterBright]

The problem is inherent to central planning, because central planning is unable to deal with the local complexities of a problem.

For example, during the gas crisis around 1980, the Dept of Energy was empowered to determine the gas allocation for every station in the country. The allocation was based on the previous year's markets. This was well-intentioned, but it did not take into account the fact that markets change constantly. The result was stations with gluts and stations with shortages.