You seem a lot more certain than I am that entitlements are going to magically straighten themselves out. I see no evidence at all of that and in fact all I've noticed is endless yammering and hand-wringing in Congress about "somethings gotta be done" - while doing nothing.
And it isn't crazy that the payroll w/h for S/S have been taken and spent by our drunken-sailor government and are now merely IOU's that can't be paid. The continual rollover of debt as a solution accomplishes little but adding to government's costs ... and who is it who at some point will have to bear those costs???
I'm certainly not of the persuasion that "debt doesn't matter since it can always be refinanced" into the future. Eventually that fails. So I don't see that trying to find a reasonable solution is taking anything out of focus. There are a lot of eminent economists who believe that also.
I don't take the term "bankrupt" as literally as you seem to, but I certainly see no "simpler options" that can offer the benefits that the FairTax does. And apparently neither does Congress since none have been offered up successfully in several decades (or generations, even). But even if they made a serious attempt to do so it's unlikely they'd be successful without dramatic change - the goodies are just too embedded into the consciousness of too many who do not contribute to the tax rolls - and yet want even more at taxpayer expense.
There's nothing that I find crazy at all about trying to find a solution to the entitlement funding problem to give us some time to find ways to get rid of it completely (hopefully). Boldly stating that "no way in hell is America going bankrupt" is going to change anything. With our manufacturing going away as rapidly as it is and many of our jobs being "outsourced", America has little to say about it unless we make some significant and major changes in how we do things overall. A bit of tinkering with taxation here and there hasn't worked well in almost 100 years and certainly is not likely to do so now. Major changes are on the horizon and I'd prefer to see us make them instead of having hem foist upon us by other countries.
It's time for the FairTax!!!
OK, so we're doomed without the Fairtax.
Over a hundred years ago the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal government did not have the authority to levy a national sales tax. Same thing happened with the income tax but they managed to amend the constitution. We need to get serious and see that the fairtaxers don't stand a chance.
Hey, we're still not doomed even if "those costs???" grow clear into "those costs???????????????????????????????". There are an infinite number of solutions. You say you can't see any. Either you aren't clever or you haven't tried. Here's just one: personal retirement accounts for younger workers, let young people use personal retirement savings accounts. set aside $2.4T for seniors, raising retirement age. More here.
But hey, go ahead and spend your energy on your fairtax if you really want. We got plenty of time to consider lots and lots of ideas because in all honesty our nation is simply not on the brink of doom.
Try not to take too long though...