Whats REALLY going to happen as a result of United States' Debt explosion?

As you know, there's talks on raising the debt ceiling again. The debt has spiralled out of control for a wide variety of reasons. To me it mathematically spells serious, severe collapse ahead which no democrat, republican, or any BS can evade. But why is this completely dismissed in mainstream media? The only areas I see people really concerned about it are in those freaky doom and gloom sites which, in my opinion, might be onto something. Those "Budget cuts", are causing even more severe damage to our strengh (education for example) but dont even begin to touch the debt.