That’s true:

Most third world countries don’t allow organized crime and persistent retail theft the way SF does. Theirs governments take harsh measures to crack down on such lawlessness.

> Most third world countries don’t allow organized crime

Depending on whether you mean de jure or de facto when you say “allow”, this is either not a difference or not true.

> organized crime and persistent retail theft the way SF does

Those were in a single grouping.

I’m currently in SE Asia: factually, they don’t allow organized retail theft akin to what I’ve seen in Seattle or SF.

Their downtowns also aren’t littered with drug zombies.

I love SE Asia, spend a lot of time there. Your characterization is incredibly misleading.

There's different tradeoffs between, say, Bangkok and San Francisco in terms of what is tolerated (i.e, drugs) and what isn't.

Yes — my point was the narrow one:

That it’s very strange that SF (and Seattle) are so much wealthier and developed, but I routinely see organized retail crime in those cities — but not in much poorer countries, who maintain a stricter social order.

To add some nuance, third world countries can be very different. Crime isn’t just a matter of “3rd world” or not (I don’t even think that’s a meaningful term). Guatemala City felt extremely dangerous even during the day. In contrast, Fez felt very safe from crime. In contrast, Singapore might be considered “3rd world” by some definitions but it is by far the safest place I’ve lived.

Not delusional at all. I appreciate that this acknowledges it doesn't have to be this way. Governments don't have to be dominated by the private market's profit motive.

Where I live in New Zealand, I haven't experienced a power cut in years, and in my entire life I've only ever experienced a handful of short power cuts. So when I hear about the California experience, it feels pretty third world to me.

blackouts are once yearly occurrences, almost always caused by natural disasters. roads are high quality and abundant. we have some of highest quality tap water in the world, which meets drinking standards even before being treated. three airports. seven major bridges. way too many highways. three world class universities. and despite what you might hear, san francisco remains one of the safest cities in the country.

as it turns out, cloistered and fear-mongering tech bros don't really have an accurate bearing on reality. as a relatively normal person I am happy to report that despite being a suburban car-dependent hellhole, the bay area is very much a "first world" metro.

> as a relatively normal person

Speaking of delusional …

You hear about a whole state's worth of local power outages. If you instead compare to when anyone in new Zealand has a power outage, you'll be closer in comparison