“The real challenge ahead is aggregate demand. There just is not enough of it,” he said. “You’ve got Europe, you’ve got China shrinking in terms of slowing down, and you also have at the same time American consumers dipping into their savings, going deeper into debt. I worry, frankly, about a slowdown before Election Day.”

Marcus said that the economic recession forced companies to make cuts that are still being felt.

“When the economy tanked, they learned to live with less people,” he said, adding that the only growth is happening overseas.

Companies, Marcus added, “have lots of money, and they are producing great profits, but they are not hiring people, and they are not hiring people because of the instability of the economy that they’re looking at.”

Marcus also cited the rising cost of fuel, including gasoline prices.

Asked by host Larry Kudlow whether he blamed President Obama for the economy, Marcus qualified his response.

“Hey, listen. Things happen. I can’t blame everything that happened on him. I mean, he’s inherited some things in 2008,” he said. “But my God, he’s been in the job for three years. He hasn’t made a dent in it, and the policies he’s pursuing now don’t look good for the future.”

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