Debt Ceiling, Explained

This week the national media has given us partisan views and doomsday scenarios, all related to the debt ceiling debate in Congress and the possible implications of not raising the U.S. debt limit by August 2 or soon thereafter. Enough to stand my virtual fur on end, or put me to sleep altogether.

Yet the debt ceiling is a concept law students may need to understand for upcoming courses, research papers, or career endeavors. So what would I recommend for objective or less partisan and serious overviews of this subject? Some good sources are the Government Accounting Office (GAO) Report to Congress on the challenges of debt limit delays (February 2011), the January 2010 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, "The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases," and "Debt Limit Analysis," a user friendly document with color charts and graphs issued earlier this week by the Bipartisan Policy Center, predicting what could happen, and when, if the debt limit isn't raised.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat