They bailed out the financial entities with failing mortgage backed securities. They didn't bail out the people owing a mortgage. They could have made a mass restructuring program but instead left all those people to ruin. It's a point against the system in total and not just a 401k. You have to have a huge amount of trust in many people to say you won't touch your 401k money for 20+ years. If you can't trust the stock market how can you sign off on a 401k.