It's no joke when investors quip, "My 401(k) is now a 201(k)."

And it's no surprise that 60 Minutes recently aired an alarmist piece on the subject.

Amidst all of the hullabaloo about the decline in investors' 401(k) retirement plans and whether investors will be able to "make up" their losses in time to retire, one point is being ignored.

What the alarmists keep missing is the fact that we are talking about retirement savings accounts. The operative word here is "savings."

Americans are notorious for their poor savings habits. I dare say that most people would never have saved anything for their retirement if they hadn't been convinced, cajoled or forced into saving in a 401(k). The fact that their accounts still exist means that at least they have something. Otherwise, who knows where their money would have gone.

Today, the media, the public and Washington regulators are questioning not only the quality of 401(k) plans but also their value as a retirement savings vehicle.

Let's separate the two. As for the quality of many of the investment options in many a 401(k) plan, yes, a lot of them are horrible and are burdened by lousy managers and high expenses.

No question there. Better oversight by plan administrators, and the plan participants themselves, could go a long way to rectifying that problem.

Let's be honest. The reason we're talking about problems in 401(k)s today has much more to do with Mr. Market than with fees.

The market break of 2008 more than overwhelmed all the other issues you can throw at 401(k) plans and their relative merits and faults. Because Congress can't call Mr. Market in for hearings, other issues come to the fore.

But let's get back to the 201(k) issue.