I'm also not sold on subsidizing financial firms with the tax benefits of 401Ks and IRAs, but it's better than nothing. But it's obvious that giving politicians a big pot of money to throw around and a lien on future taxpayers is also terrible.
"Value" was only lost if all the assets were sold in 2008. Assuming you were diversified and just had the run of the mill index funds, you'd have tripled your "value" since then. The dollar loses value every day, and it will continue to do so, so you need to make sure you're making more and more of it. Unless you're adept at investing in cash flow businesses and maintaining them, your best bet is via the stock market. At least then you can tread water, and if another recession comes, the government will just print some more again, but at least you'll be treading water with inflation.