Boycott National Companies That Pay Below $10.10 an Hour. It's That Simple.

Twenty companies with the most low-wage workers.

I haven't shopped at Walmart in 20 years anyway. Some time maybe two years ago, I ate at McDonald's and said, "Shit, this is shitty food." Same thing a year ago at Taco Bell. Their tortillas taste like cardboard. Now I've stopped thinking outside the bun. I don't go near them. I eat at my local taqueria. A little more expensive, but great!

They probably don't pay any more than Taco Bell, but that's not the point. Here's the point: If everyone picked the top-ten corporations that should be paying a higher minimum wage but aren't, and stopped shopping there ever, we'd see a $10 or higher minimum wage in no time. Seriously,

What, are they just going to let sales slip 5 percent? Their stock would tank. Again, you'd be eating better. Shop the sales at the really local chains. Skip Macy's. Seeing their name in the top twenty gives me the willies. Their workers can't afford to shop there!

Boycotting national food joints and retailers that pay below $10.10 should be a no-brainer. For example, make In-N-Out Burger your go-to burger joint (It's mine since I abandoned my juvenile attachment to McDonald's). Make Costco your go-to big-box store. Shun TJMax (I'm cutting up my card today). Nordstrom pays a decent wage. I might make Nordstrom Rack my go-to clothing discounter. Encourage everyone you know to do the same.

Now, the beauty of this is that is skips the mom-and-pop dilemma -- joints that supposedly would get hurt by a higher minimum wage. Go ahead, go to your local non-chain burger joint. Encourage them to pay their workers more, reminding them that better-paid workers are more loyal (thus you don't have to train new workers so much), more reliable, more retainable, and don't steal everything they can get they hands on. But support them if you think they're worthy.