Muscatine

Maybe I missed something but why does the government have to furlough

 non-essential personnel, in private business if your job is declared
non-essential you just get fired.

I love it, JC. My son works for the VA. They are exempt from mandatory furloughs.

These "furloughs" are not "mandatory".  The Executive branch (the whitehouse) decides who gets furloughed and who doesn't; what gets shut down and what doesn't.  The only way around it (for certain things) is through Congress passing a law.  The House tried it this weekend, but the Dems in the Senate shot it down.