New light bulbs are rubbish. I doubt it's a conspiracy, but they are really not what they are cracked up to be. I haven't had one of these rediculously expensive objects last months, let alone the years it will take for them to recover the extra investment. I have had two literally explode, glowing super bright for a few days then blowing the lamp with them. I have had to buy 2 new lamps in my office, both shagged when the bulb went.
There is a small electrical shop in our arcade that sells the old ones (they must have millions in stock), mainly to all the old people in town who can't see anything with the new bulbs and who can't afford to wait 5 minutes for them to warm up while they attempt to navigate the stairs.
I'm sure the pi$$ small amount of power we'll save will delay global warming catastrophe by 0.00004 of second so it's all worth it I suppose.