There’s a simple financial solution that would keep the families of government workers from starving during the longest shutdown in US history.

My idea: Allow people who have been working without pay — and maybe even those who have been furloughed and might not get retroactive salaries — to take money out of their retirement accounts without being taxed or penalized.

The crazies who think retirement money is so sacred that it should never be touched are going to jump up and down in anger. And those on Wall Street who manage that money will probably put out a hit on me.

But hear me out.

I’m not sure what hoops this idea would have to go through (executive order from President Trump, agreement by Congress, a simple rule change from the Treasury Department, or the blessing of the pope), but if the Democrats and the Republicans want to continue their political tantrum and still show some compassion for the people they are hurting, this idea will be considered.

People never want to label their ideas as “simple” because it’s a curse. Politicians will find a way to complicate anything. But here’s the kernel of my proposal.

Workers like those at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who play a vital role in securing our airports should be allowed to withdraw some amount from their 401(k), IRA, Keogh or whatever retirement account they have — with the understanding that the money would be repaid within a certain period of time.

I’m not suggesting that this be limited to just TSA workers, who have been getting the bulk of the publicity because nobody likes to have an unhappy person be the one relied upon to prevent dangerous stuff from getting into planes.

My idea should be applied to all those who have credibly been affected by the shutdown, whether they are employees of the government or contractors laid off because their business dried up during the now 33-day shutdown.

I’d even suggest that each paycheck after the shutdown be automatically redeposited in its entirety into the retirement account that was tapped. Those accounts would need to be made whole again by a certain deadline — one year sounds reasonable.

The people who would have to implement such a plan can figure out the details. I’m a big-picture type of guy.

Food banks, churches and even regular banks have been filling some of the gaps that were created when the US stopped paying its workers. And that’s great — it is good to see people pulling together to help their fellow man, woman, child and family.

But why should the families of federal workers have to go begging when most, if not all, probably have funds set aside for retirement? Why worry about how you are going to feed yourself and your family decades from now when you are having trouble feeding them today?

There’s one big problem I can see with this idea, and I will come clean.

This would take considerable pressure off the politicians to come up with a solution to the shutdown. And I’m not sure either side really wants to relieve that pressure because the election of 2020 — not the federal deficit or the wall or immigration — is really the issue here.

This idea may sound familiar to longtime readers of mine because I’ve used something similar before in a different context.

When the Republicans were trying to pass a tax cut in 2017 and arguing that it would help the economy, I suggested that it would be wiser to change the rules on how retirement accounts could be used as a way to boost business.

Anyway, nobody listened to me then. Let’s see if they listen now.