I don't understand our economic system

This morning the BBC was saying how awful it was China only grew 8%, a figure that the rest of the world would kill for. But it wasn't as much as the 9 or 10 in the past. Sorta like how horrible the athlete only won the silver Olympic medal, what a failure.

I've a problem with growth on a planet with too many people and limited resources. As I often say, selfish dinosaurs are refusing to die these days to increase our fossil fuels.

The economic news is reported as the stock market. Yet three times the number of people who own stock are part of a co-operative but co-operative news isn't reported. The stock market may be great but shouldn't part of the financial news be how many people went hungry in the same country?

Why is it a tree is only counted in the GNP when it is destroyed not when it is giving shade, beauty and oxygen.

If we're healthy we don't contribute as much to the GDP as we do when we are in the hospital or die.  So all my healthy friends, why aren't you getting sick to help out the GDP in your countries.

Why should a citizen pay for a bad bank deal they never agreed to. Iceland refused and put the politician responsible on trial. It's like A loans money to B and B doesn't repay so A insists C-Z pay B's loan. And to do that C-Z sacrifice all they've ever worked for.

I will admit to being socialist. I do think a society works better when the stronger help the weaker, but I don't think the weaker should pay for the stupidities and crookedness of others.

There's the old saw that under socialism A has to give B one of his three pigs. They never go beyond that when B mates the pig and has lots of pigs, which he turn shares with others. B and the others are no longer hungry and A still has his pigs who hopefully by then has produced her own litters. Of course, somewhere in that story we need a male pig. It doesn't do A any good to have so many pigs he is up to his elbows in their s--t while B is starving down the street. The neighbourhood is better off when both A and B are doing well.

I wonder why I've never been asked to teach economics...