Economic Health
When there is economic freedom (low amounts of government spending and regulation), then there is a high amount of economic health. An economy is healthy when people who are working average amounts of hours can afford to purchase a lot of things--i.e., there is a high "purchasing power" of the prevailing average wage.
When there is not a lot of economic freedom (high amounts of government spending and regulation), then there is less economic health. Under this new condition, the purchasing power of average wages drops so that workers can no longer afford to buy as many things. Below are historical examples:
Healthy Economy -- Base-Value Cars
1926: Wages in manufacturing sector were $1309 [1] and base price of a Ford Model T Runabout was $345 [2]--so that average US wages were almost 4 multiples of US car prices
1970: "Wage accruals per full-time [FT] equivalent employee" were $7744 [3] and the base price on a VW Beetle 2-door sedan was $1839 [4]--so that wages were 4.21 multiples of car prices
**"50-year Wage Price" (of cars in the US): one car ~ 24% of the average annual wage
Unhealthy Economy
2013: Wages per FT equivalent worker were $56,661 and base price on VW Beetle, 2-dr sedan, 5-speed manual transmission, was $19,795 [5]--so that wages were 2.86 multiples of car prices
**2013 "Wage Price": one car ~ 35% of the average annual wage (46% more of "US average wages" were required in order to buy a car)
Healthy Economy -- Median-Priced Homes
1920s: It took somewhere around 3 years of average wages (~$4000+) to buy a median-priced home [6]
1970: Median sales price on new homes [7] ~ 3.02 multiples of wages per FT equivalent worker --you could buy a median-priced home outright with 3 years of wages
**"50-year Wage Price" (of homes in the US): one home = 3 years of wages
Unhealthy Economy
2005: Median sales price on new homes ~ 5.28 multiples of wages per FT equivalent worker--compared to 1970, it took 75% more US-averaged wages to buy a home
2017: Median sales price on new homes ~ 5.15 multiples of wages per FT equivalent worker--compared to 1970, it took 70% more US-averaged wages to buy a home
**2017 "Wage Price": one home ~ 5.15 years of wages (70% more "US average wages" were required in order to buy a median-priced home)
To return to the condition where you can buy a median-priced home with just 3 years of wages, and where you can buy over 4 cars with one year of wages--we can simply restore economic freedom (have the government spend and regulate less). This will restore the earlier condition when average workers could buy a lot of things.
If, conversely, we chose not to restore lost economic freedom, conditions will continue to get worse over time (our paychecks will continue to buy less and less things).
And, if we reach the condition where more than half of all of US citizens have "net-negative worth"--i.e., have more personal debt than personal equity--we will have returned to the paltry conditions known during times of feudal serfdom. We have already passed the point where the "Bottom-40% of us," viewed in isolation (as a group), have net-negative worth [8].
Let's not get to the point where the "Bottom-50% of us" have negative worth.
Let's instead restore economic freedom in the US using Article V of the US Constitution, which allows for the several states to agree to a convention limited to proposing specific amendments to the Constitution--such as those forcing the federal government to disengage from its current overspending and hyper-regulation (which are currently making average US workers more poor over time).
Reference
[1] National Bureau of Economic Research, Average Absolute Annual Earnings of Employees or Wage Earners in All Manufacturing Industries for the United States [M08040USM302NNBR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M08040USM302NNBR
[2] NADA Guides. Classic Cars. 1926. Ford. Model T. 2-Door Runabout. Base Values. https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1926/Ford/Model-T/2-Door-Runabout-2-Passenger/Values
[3] U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Wage and salary accruals per full-time equivalent employee [A4401C0A052NBEA], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A4401C0A052NBEA
[4] NADA Guides. Classic Cars. 1970. Volkswagen. Beetle. 2-Door Sedan. Base Values. https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1970/Volkswagen/Beetle/2-Door-Sedan/Values
[5] Michigan Secretary of State office. Vehicle Base Prices (see Combined Cars, year 2013). https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1631_50300_50310-30109--,00.html
[6] University of Missouri Library. Prices and Wages by Decade: 1920-1929. PRICES for HOUSING, REAL ESTATE and UTILITIES. See the hyperlink to a 1929 Bureau of Labor Statistics report (caption below it says: Page 243 reads: "The sum of $4,000 will buy only a very modest home ...").
https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1920-1929
[7] U.S. Bureau of the Census and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Median Sales Price for New Houses Sold in the United States [MSPNHSUSA], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPNHSUSA
[8] United States Census Bureau. Wealth, Asset Ownership, & Debt of Households Detailed Tables: 2014. [see total % distribution of net worth at top of Table 4 and combine data with the intersection of the Household Net Worth rows and the mean Net Worth column in Table 5 of the "Wealth and Asset Ownership" spreadsheet].
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2014/demo/wealth/wealth-asset-ownership.html
Attribution for top image: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1926_Ford_Model_T_(1143362137).jpg