"I usually call a friend, who is an economics whiz to get the story."

What's an economics whiz? Your friend's story will depend upon which theory-soaked camp she subscribes to. "She's an economics whiz" bears only a superficial resemblance to, e.g., "She's an orthopedics whiz".

So, "she knows Robert Pollin like the back of her hand, or, "Michael Chossudovsky's her mentor", or "she works for (fill in mainstream guru here)", but not "she's a whiz", which disregards the centrality of theory in the social sciences. 

You clearly endorse her view, which is fine, but the only way the "whiz" claim is meaningful to us observers is for us to know which flavor KoolAid she sips.