Gunplummer, don't waste time worrying about Marlin. Remington can't build a lever gun to save the brand name, and, unless something changes, Marlin will be sold off or relegated to the annuls of history sooner than later.
Until Remington can build a decent Marlin lever gun, there's nothing there worth thinking about buying, anyway.
Marlin firearms, at this point in time, could fall right into the theme of this thread, with obsolescence.
They were good. They were popular.
Now they're crap.
...Because of cost-cutting measures and lack of quality control.
I'm taking your .338 ME comment as tongue-in-cheek, since the cartridge has been around for eight (nine?) years now.
But, again, it will only truly fail because Remington won't support it like Marlin did before the buyout.