Screw the ordinary people
This will be short. If there is a shutdown - which now seems likely and less than 18 hours away - all signs are that something will be very different about this one. In those during the Clinton presidency, the workers who were furloughed were "made whole" - once the government was funded they were given the pay they would have received had the government not shut down.
Not this time. "Essential" employees will be paid for the time they worked. All the others? The attitude of the Tea Party Republicans - and unfortunately some of the Blue Dog Democrats - is that if they didn't work they shouldn't get paid. So screw them.
I explored this question with a number of people very much in a position to know. This is personal. My spouse is a Federal government employee who is not considered essential. Many of my students have one or both parents who are Federal government employees who are not considered essential. If these people are not "made whole" after a shutdown of more than a couple of days, the implications are quite serious.
A few more thoughts below - by my standards very few.
