Don’t shake your fist at the catastrophes created by U.S. government

Are you ready to do what it takes to win?

In about 10 days the United States will be up against another one of those artificial crises that we love to impose on ourselves.

The Department of Treasury will run out of money because many members of Congress won’t vote to increase the debt ceiling unless they see budget cuts first. This is different from a government shutdown, where they send federal employees home and close the parks, but still send out the Social Security checks.

When the government hits the debt ceiling, it can only pay its bills with whatever cash comes in. If there’s not enough cash for Social Security checks, or the military payroll, or interest payments to investors, it goes into default.

The Republican leadership in Congress has said they won’t let default happen. But one Republican candidate says that’s a mistake, and I think you can guess who it was.

“The Republicans don’t know how to negotiate to be honest with you,” Donald Trump said. “I’m a Republican and its embarrassing…”

On “Face The Nation,” Trump said as President he would threaten a default, because that’s what a good negotiator does. Remember: as a businessman he’s done something similar four times.

“It’s amazing tool to negotiate, because it is a very, very … It’s fairly catastrophic if it happens,” Trump said. “But some people are willing to go through that in order to win.”

So if the country does default and it delays your Treasury check or pushes mortgage rates higher, don’t shake your fist. Take pride in knowing that what may feel like a catastrophe to you helped the politicians reach a deal.