Dobbs goes back and forth throughout the book, confusing capitalism with mercantilism, blaming mercantilism for bad policies that he calls capitalism, and blaming free trade for the consequences of protectionist policies … and then there's his actual understanding of politics itself. I hesitate to say what his understanding of economics is because there isn't any economics in War on the Middle Class. There's a lot of talk about how this nation was founded on a principle of economic opportunity, but that's as close as Dobbs comes.
