I'm amused that you think the short duration of the Higgs boson is a strike against it when the exact opposite is true.

I agree that collider money may be arguably overspent in terms of funding, but there isn't an easier approach. Particle theory is important. In case you haven't noticed, it allows us increasingly good predictions for quantum materials science, which is exploding in new discoveries right now as we race to build an adiabatic quantum computer that will break existing encryption technology. Your phone probably uses quantum dots; a lot of the tech we use daily has ties to basic particle research. It's easy to be dismissive when you don't understand the point of research, but this is an area that--while arguably overfunded or misfunded--is still very important.