Understanding the "debt ceiling"

For those of us who watch the news (or just unfortunately major in political science), it's impossible to ignore the umpteenth annual debt ceiling freak-out. Why is our government freaking out about the debt ceiling for the zillionth year in a row? What IS the debt ceiling, actually? Why is the government putting us through this? Why does any of this matter?

All of these questions and more can be answered by this handy video I found, courtesy of YouTuber "Grey" in the series "Grey Explains Things."

Now, okay, it's clear that Grey has a slight political bias. So in the interest of fairness, I tried to figure out how conservatives feel about raising the debt ceiling. 

Obviously, there are hard feelings on both sides. So what's the answer?

There isn't one. That's the problem, not just with American politics, but politics in general. There are fourteen solutions to every issue, and all fourteen of them suck for someone out there, somewhere. It's all a matter of who has the power, because those with the power want things to suck for them as little as possible.

And what determines who has the power?

Money, of course. Those with the money have the power. That's not the liberal in me talking, that's the single core concept that is taught in any political science class I've ever taken ever. I'm a supporter of president Obama but even I can admit that the only reason he won the re-election is because his campaign had more funds than Romney's. That's just the sad truth. If you have more money to spend, you have more resources, and you have the power. 

But anyway, enough of that. So, here's to the debt ceiling, and the hope that America doesn't default on its credit because of ridiculous irresponsible party politics.