Update - various commenters who are federal employees have informed me that the federal agencies are making preparations for a shutdown. This undermines my core thesis, but I figured I'd leave the diary in place, on the chance that it contributes to the discussion.
I know, it's been spectacularly fun to watch the Republican acts of self-immolation, and wax righteously against their irresponsibility - no need to stop! But for those who are actually concerned that the government shutdown might happen on Monday, there's a pretty obvious indication why it won't. The last time this was a credible threat, official notifications went out to government employees, informing them who was considered essential, and would be required to continue coming to work in the event of a shutdown.
To my knowledge, there's been no such notification this time. This isn't like announcing a snow day school closing - it's a complicated process that requires formal notification (granted, so are snow days, but on a relatively much simpler scale). So the simple, boring answer to the question that the media is buzzing so crazily about, which could be resolved by any journalist with a similarly half-assed commitment to logical analysis as to mine, with bonus points for looking up some links on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/...).
But the drama's way more interesting and important than a logical analysis, right? Cause of all that media responsibility stuff...