Ah, the government shutdown—a phrase that can send shivers down the spine of even the most seasoned investor. It conjures images of furloughed employees, empty offices, and Washington, D.C., in a state of frozen chaos. But before you start envisioning your 401(k) being eaten by a giant bureaucratic monster, take a deep breath. A government shutdown is rarely the financial apocalypse it’s often made out to be. Let’s take a light-hearted stroll through what a shutdown really me