I think an interesting alternative to the GDP as a measure of U.S. economic health is

Infrastructure Quality/National Debt or

Infrastructure Spending/Annual Budget

Low spending and/or large debt, then we're not doing so well, which is the current situation.

In 2005, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) gave the U.S. infrastructure an average grade of D, and said that we would need to spend at $1.6 trillion dollars, which I'm sure is now too low. Check out the link below. Its not a pretty picture.

National Infrastructure Report Card
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/page.cfm?id=103

I had dinner with a couple of civil engineers recently. They said that we should expect to see more and more bridges falling down.

I concur. Even without peak oil. With peak oil, it's going to be worse.

yikes!!

do they know where?

In a Post-PO world, do we even need bridges...? At least for cars...?

Well without as many cars and trucks on them (esp. trucks) they should last longer...