Another cold Sunday morning in Kaaawa.

We had dinner with a friend last night who is a general contractor. He started out his contracting career doing small home renovations, later building houses and, over the past five years or so, specializing in luxury custom homes for high-income owners.

His high flying clientele had insulated his company from the contracting slowdown until very recently. But when we asked about the outlook last night, he said several clients have deferred or shelved their plans while reassessing their financial priorities.

On job was abruptly halted. He said that when he called his concrete supplier to cancel a planned future pour, the supplier said it was his fourth cancellation of the day.

He also said that at least one client who has pulled back is in the world of venture capital. The Obama tax plan proposes to treat profits from venture capital investments as regular income rather than as capital gains, kicking that income from a 15% federal tax rate to 39.6%. No wonder their pulling in the sails.

Hawaii has been courting that same venture capital industry with the high tech tax credits and other programs, but I don’t recall seeing much discussion of the impact of the Obama plan on this segment of our economy. It seems likely to take a big bite out of this type of investment, pushing investors back to stocks, real estate, and other assets that will qualify for capital gain rates. Whether you think that’s good or bad policy isn’t the question. The immediate issue is how it will impact our local economic plans.

I’m holding my breath on this next one. Has StarBulletin.com eliminated those terrible pop-up ads that cover the lead story on its main page? Several visits there this morning have been pop-up free, and I think it happened yesterday as well and it just didn’t sink in. If they’ve reconsidered the use of this particular advertising mode, I salute them! It may be too early to say “thank you”, but I’m hoping that’s the case. It will make for a much better reader experience and may draw back former readers who fled to escape the pop-up plague.

The Star-Bulletin has also been having some editing issues in recent days. This morning’s story on yesterday’s high surf brought another example.

In the story summary:

“On Kauai, searchers were not able to recover the body of a 35-year-old surfer missing since Friday afternoon.”

But from the main story:

The 34-year-old man, from Moloaa, was reported missing at about 1:41 p.m. Friday when he failed to return to shore after losing his surfboard.

Was he 34 or 35? Not sure.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, Newspaper Guild members at the Seattle Times approved a pension freeze and other concessions after a union economist confirmed the newspaper’s continued losses.

Hearst is expected to announce plans for the Seattle P-I this week, probably to include the date of the newspaper’s last print edition. Meanwhile, this collection of photos celebrates the work of its photographers. It’s worth browsing.

And journalism isn’t the only profession facing uncertainties. This entry in my cousin’s blog says a lot about what’s happening on university campuses these days. To be more precise, Leslie’s a 2nd cousin. He mom is my first cousin. I keep up with their part of the family via her Clutter Museum blog.

I should mention two good stories in today’s Honolulu Advertiser. Andrew Gomes reports on the surge in “short sales”, the first substantive piece I recall seeing about this change in the local market. And Derrick DePledge has a detailed account of the legislative struggle with Hawaii’s network of public hospitals. Both good reading.