He was wrong. The true "mother of all wars" will be the economic battle between the Sickness and Wellness industries.

The Sickness Industry is the conventional synthetic drugs and surgery business. It tries to treat and cure sickness and disease.

The Wellness Industry uses a variety of ways to keep healthy people healthy make more people healthy, and to avoid sickness and disease.

Both sides of this economic war need skilled spokespersons, consultants, advisors, writers, and speakers to fight for people's beliefs and money.

Charles Dickens wrote "The Tale Of Two Cities" years ago. It is fiction, but its plot centered on times just before The French Revolution, which deposed the French monarchy.

Dickens described that time this way: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

What a parallel to the Sickness Industry's haughty delusions that it is the king of modern medicine!

The medical monarchy, the Sickness Industry, is challenged by Wellness Industry--a best of times, worst of times scenario.

Whenever a situation likes this arises, the best way to discern the truth is to follow the money trail.

Exactly why is the Sickness Industry so alarmed by Wellness and Alternative Medicine?

United States healthcare costs, mostly by the Sickness Industry, were $1.7 trillion in 2003, seven times greater than 1980.

The Cato Institute reports that healthcare, as a percentage of GNP, was 4.0% in 1950, leaping to 12% in 1990. It is 14% now, consuming one dollar of every seven of GNP.

The American health care system costs three times more than Canada on a per capita basis.

For all of this Sickness Industry spending, are we becoming healthier and living longer?

Not really. In fact, it's just the opposite.

The CIA "World Book Of Facts 2007" ranks the life expectancy in the United States at 45th place of 222 nations reported.

American life expectancy is 78.00 years, compared to 83.52 years for first place nation, Andorra--a 5.52 year difference.

Andorra spends only 5.9% of GNP, compared to our 14%.

Is more and more GNP spending on Sickness Industry "solutions" inversely proportional to long life expectancy? I think so.

Our Sickness Industry spending shows that the law of diminishing returns is alive and well. In simple language, we pay too much to the Sickness Industry for too little return.

Now let's discuss the Wellness Revolution, best described by Paul Zane Pilzer's writings. His most recent book is "The Wellness Revolution: How to Make A Fortune."

He estimated Wellness spending was $200 billion in 2002 and $500 billion in 2006. He forecasts that Wellness spending will grow to $1.0 trillion in the next several years.

This trillion dollar encroachment into the $1.7 trillion United States health care system is most unwelcome--to put it mildly---by the Sickness Industry.

Big Pharma is a huge chief public promoter of the Sickness Industry, using TV advertising heavily. Behind the happy faces of actors in these TV commercials, Big Pharma faces big time blahs, if not the financial "heartbreak of psoriasis."

A number of their profitable patents expire within the next three to four years. Studies on new drugs have been disappointing.

Wall Street is pushing the Big Pharma companies to earn more or to merge into three to four major firms, as the large oil companies did.

Continuous legal judgments don't help either, the latest being a $19.5 million judgment payable in 26 states for claiming wrongly that Oxycontin was not addictive.

The Sickness Industry not only is losing its stranglehold over our health care system, but Wellness Industry challengers are starting to win big.

Let's keep fighting the good fight of Wellness!

John J. Alquist and his wife, Shirley, own and operates Alquist Enterprises. We offer professional public speaking, writing and authoring, as well as business consulting and planning meeting facilitation. We also promote wellness in a number of way. Our website is http://www.tell-it-well.com