What I hear in the background

A couple of days ago it was cajun french, now it's decidedly spanish.  I went from jambalya to burritos pretty quickly.  Part of the fun of moving across the landscape.  One constant so far though is that the Indians (as in from India) own all the small mom and pop motels.  I think it's even true in the northeast.  What's with that?  They certainly aren't prosperous looking operations for the most part.  And, at $30/night they aren't likely to be.  They rarely seem to be anywhere near full.   Is this a way to live in the states that is better than what they had in India?  Are they the only people willing to do it?  How have they worked out buying so many of them?  Not that I'm envious or begrudge them what they are doing.  Most of the places seem like exercises in futility.  We Americans want flashy and pretentious now, except for the downtrodden, eccentric, and the cyclists (who may often fit both of the previous categories).
  The photo below is part of a roughly 100 acre strip/clear-cut in the Big Thicket.  It's not pretty, but it's actually probably pretty good forestry.  It creates good habitat for early successional species (deer,rabbits,turkey, woodcock,various songbirds), they've done some snag management (left dead standing trees for woodpeckers, etc.), and they left the tops and branches spread around as a carbon source for the next crop (yeah, here's one place we want carbon).