Analysis:  U.S. offiicials conceived of a plan and gave $10 million for a $50 light bulb. Who thinks that government should subsidize $10 million worth of taxpayer dollars in order to get a $50 light bulb? Should we take a vote? Ja, we kunnen het!

The Philips 423244 10-Watt 60-Watt L-Prize Award Winning LED Light Bulb will only cost you around $49.97 per unit. That’s not so bad if you think about it. It has many neat features. It’s fully dimmable. That means it has something in common with Washington bureaucrats.

Okay. Let’s do the math. Conservatively, an average family may need about 8 bulbs. That’s $400 if you go with the L-Prize. For around $412.50 you could buy around 1,100 incandescent light bulbs. So, that’s roughly 8 bulbs per 1,100. That’s a ratio of about 137. But then again, these are only numbers. It’s only speculative.

Let’s double this figure. If we need 16 bulbs, that means $800 for the L-prize. That same amount of money would buy us around 2,200 incandescent bulbs.

Some families would need to spend $2,000 for lighting with the new efficient bulb. That’s a lot of money just for light bulbs.

There is an alternative. Although still a little pricey, it’s half as bad. It’s the Philips 409904 / 423343 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb.