So, imagine your employer/contractor announced it will stop paying you and put you on a temporary furlough for an undetermined period. Although you understood that such a draconian action was possible, it must have come as a real shock, a financial blow that you're still living through.Twelve million of our fellow citizens are currently living through just such an economic crisis. Ironically, it's the most secure employer of all, the US Government, that is inflicting this pain on its own workers and contractors.