How Indian Americans Came to Run Half of All U.S. Motels

Post by la6470 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 3:27 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #139

sidlls wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not (just) that most Americans feel these jobs aren't worth their time. There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money for any reason. There are plenty of American families who have relations who could easily help bootstrap a profitable small business in the way described here. It just doesn't happen that way very often. Ins…

Americans want less risk, and fiscal policy drives consolidation. Hotels aren’t a Business that requires immigrant labor because it’s undesirable —- it’s a business that needs capital and SMB are starved of capital. Many Americans come from a cultural background where there is shame involved in talking about money and doing business with family, and prefer dealing with institutions.

Post by sumedh » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #167

sumedh wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Gujaratis are known for being very enterprising folks. The downside is that some of the biggest and famous crooks are from the same community as well.

There's lots of famous financial fraudsters and crooks from any community. Look at the Ivy League graduates working on Wall Street who caused the 2007/2008 financial crisis.

Post by skookumchuck » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:02 AM UTC

ummonk wrote: post #188

skookumchuck wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early millionaires. The article makes it pretty clear.

No, I mean the data on 85% of millioniares. It probably captures mostly retirees. As for the article, the people in it seem to need to continue living a frugal lifestyle after early retirement, so they aren't exactly wealthy. Financially independent, yes, but not wealthy.

Post by erikpukinskis » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:18 AM UTC

iguy wrote: post #45

sumeetjain wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a very strong individualist streak in American culture and a very strong taboo against lending friends or family members money I think the individualist streak in American culture is better shown by people being unwilling to seek help from friends/family. I might call an unwillingness to help others (assuming one can afford to do so) selfishness -- not individualism. But what I have seen in American is, as…

I think it's much deeper than "individualist streak in American culture". Western Europe in the last 1000 years or so has been a very unusual place... one aspect of which is having nuclear families not extended ones. Because (crudely speaking) the catholic church wished to diminish alternative power structures, such as clans. This led to an unusually open society, which had many benefits... with generally higher leve…

Post by scarejunba » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 4:23 AM UTC

justaguyhere wrote: post #25

stephengillie wrote: post #3

This model has led to success for other immigrant groups in other industries. > Many followed his advice. “They would give each other handshake loans—no collateral, no payment schedule, just pay when you can,” Doshi explains. Once a family purchased a motel, they would live there, and the family members would do all the tasks needed to run it, from cleaning rooms to checking in guests. That helped keep costs down, an…

I recently learned about oulipo ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo ) who create works with constraints (sometimes severe) and the results are quite amazing. Lack of resources can be sometimes a blessing in disguise whether it is literature or hard business. I wonder why Americans don't do this (maybe they do, I don't know) - why borrow from banks (or VCs etc) with strict strings attached, instead of supporting on…