Steven Pearlstein writes a twice weekly column for the Washington Post on business and the economy, ranging widely among local, national and international topics. He is a former deputy business editor of the Post and senior editor at Inc. magazine. He was founding publisher and editor of The Boston Observer, a monthly journal of liberal opinion. He got his start in journalism reporting for two New Hampshire newspapers -- the Concord Monitor and the Foster's Daily Democrat. Pearlstein has also worked as a television news reporter  at Boston’s public television station, WGBH. During the late 1970s, he served as administrative assistant to U.S. Senator John Durkin (D-NH) and Rep. Michael Harrington (D-Mass.) and was elected to the position of town moderator in West Newbury, Mass. He was raised in Brookline, Mass., and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He lives in Washington with his wife, Wendy Gray, and teenage children Laura and Eli.