What I do not understand is this, when I was th6 or 7 or maybe even th5? Finding 200000-400000 bases was easy while hitting next was cheap as dirt and making troops was cheap as dirt.

So basically as a th6 or 7 compared to th8 or 9 my issues are:
Army cost much higher
higher build time
a lot higher next cost
while loot gains are smaller, I am lucky if I can find 150000-250000 gold/elixir bases (not total each having 150000)

So why is the cost/reward so good for th6/7 meaning I get a lot of reward for low cost but as th 8/9 the cost skyrockts (like upgrades esp for th9) but my reward per battle plummets and the fact I need stronger, slower making troops to attack these bases?

I can see the reward for winning was increased (I think?) along with loot bonuses for clan wars but it does not really change what I am saying here.

If you do not want to improve it, why? Why is loot so easy for the lower th? I thought the idea of growing was to be able to get more loot per attack?