American Goverment

[Howard]

Does anyone understand what they mean by a goverment shut down????

[Raiden..]

It's basically when your government can't sort out it's financial budget and thus because they don't have the funds directed they have to shutdown all "non essential" services

From Wikipedia :

Congress would force a government shutdown on 8 April, 2011 if their plan to reduce the U.S. federal budget deficit is not resolved[1]. This could leave 800,000 furloughed workers without a job, out of 2 million civilian federal employees. [2][3] Congressional leaders will meet on April 7, 2011 to agree on budget cuts in an effort to stave off a government shutdown. But federal agencies are already beginning preparations for potential closures.[4]

Things that won't be shutdown are things like Police, Firefighters, Air Traffic, Corrections, etc.