CNN's Velshi Cheers Minimum Wage Increase

July 24th, 2007 6:01 PM

"[T]here is unmitigated good news," proclaimed Ali Velshi about the minimum wage increase on the July 24 "American Morning." While the business reporter admitted "there are lots of sides to the story," he still called it "good news."

Back on January 2, Velshi stated that the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is "simply not fair." He had trouble with math in that "American Morning" appearance stating that the minimum wage comes out to $900 a week, when he likely meant $900 a month.

This time, Velshi was right with the math and left with his politics.

"The bottom line is you can't underpay people. And we've been underpaying people," said Velshi.

Velshi did concede that this could potentially harm small businesses, but failed to point out possible immediate impact of the minimum wage hike in his segment.

Marc Freedman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told USA Today, "the higher federal minimum wage could mean fewer hours for employees, fewer pay increases for other employees, benefits reductions, job losses and waning job creation."