I’ve mentioned before that I think Moody’s economist Mark Zandi is a snake oil salesman for his “model” that says for every $1 you spend on unemployment insurance you get $1.63 of economic activity. If that’s the case, everyone should go on unemployment.

Over at The Big Picture, someone has used a good ol’ Lexis/Nexis search and come up with quote after quote from Zandi that shows he’s just not wrong – he’s really wrong.

Marketwatch - March 26, 2007

"Zandi sees a bottom for sales in spring as sellers become more motivated and start cutting prices." [Note: In August 2010, new home sales fell to the lowest level since 1963, when the government began to keep records.]

New York Times – March 18, 2007

“Weakness in the market has been concentrated in certain segments,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com. “We’re not witnessing the entire housing market in metro areas caving in.”

And the hits just keep on coming.

CNN International – Sept. 20, 2008

“I mean make no mistake what the government has done will sew the seeds for I think a very, very sharp recovery.”

Zandi’s got an impressive streak going. The guy has been so wrong for so long that you should probably listen to what he suggests – and do the opposite.