diff --git a/openstack/common/cfg.py b/openstack/common/cfg.py
index 8f25c5cb7..a6500eb63 100644
--- a/openstack/common/cfg.py
+++ b/openstack/common/cfg.py
@@ -1735,11 +1735,13 @@ class CommonConfigOpts(ConfigOpts):
         BoolOpt('debug',
                 short='d',
                 default=False,
-                help='Print debugging output'),
+                help='Print debugging output (set logging level to '
+                     'DEBUG instead of default WARNING level).'),
         BoolOpt('verbose',
                 short='v',
                 default=False,
-                help='Print more verbose output'),
+                help='Print more verbose output (set logging level to '
+                     'INFO instead of default WARNING level).'),
     ]
 
     logging_cli_opts = [
diff --git a/openstack/common/log.py b/openstack/common/log.py
index 37f405b3a..0be34a501 100644
--- a/openstack/common/log.py
+++ b/openstack/common/log.py
@@ -361,10 +361,12 @@ def _setup_logging_from_conf(product_name):
                                                    datefmt=datefmt))
         handler.setFormatter(LegacyFormatter(datefmt=datefmt))
 
-    if CONF.verbose or CONF.debug:
+    if CONF.debug:
         log_root.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
-    else:
+    elif CONF.verbose:
         log_root.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    else:
+        log_root.setLevel(logging.WARNING)
 
     level = logging.NOTSET
     for pair in CONF.default_log_levels:
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_log.py b/tests/unit/test_log.py
index cc032d9c1..a4a7915fd 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_log.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_log.py
@@ -52,13 +52,19 @@ class LoggerTestCase(test_utils.BaseTestCase):
         self.config(verbose=True)
         log.setup("test_is_verbose")
         logger = logging.getLogger("test_is_verbose")
+        self.assertEqual(logging.INFO, logger.getEffectiveLevel())
+
+    def test_will_be_debug_if_debug_flag_set(self):
+        self.config(debug=True)
+        log.setup("test_is_debug")
+        logger = logging.getLogger("test_is_debug")
         self.assertEqual(logging.DEBUG, logger.getEffectiveLevel())
 
     def test_will_not_be_verbose_if_verbose_flag_not_set(self):
         self.config(verbose=False)
         log.setup("test_is_not_verbose")
         logger = logging.getLogger("test_is_not_verbose")
-        self.assertEqual(logging.INFO, logger.getEffectiveLevel())
+        self.assertEqual(logging.WARNING, logger.getEffectiveLevel())
 
     def test_no_logging_via_module(self):
         for func in ('critical', 'error', 'exception', 'warning', 'warn',