[legion]

I would hope that the companies that are suspending 401k contributions are doing so because it is the only way to preserve jobs. (Which I would put above retirement contributions.)

In 2002 my employer lost 5 billion dollars. It's kind of a funny story. The executives formulated a plan to grow the company. The lay-people followed the plan to a "T". It was a bad plan. We lost 5 billion dollars. The executives were stripped of their bonuses and the lay-people were still given bonuses and full 401k matches. Imagine that! Now, my employer is not publicly traded (and it's not good press to tell stories like this--doesn't sell copy). The executives went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan for LONG TERM PROFITABILITY. There were no massive layoffs. The next year we lost 3.5 billion. The year after that we were profitable and have been ever since. We learned from our mistakes and didn't take short-sighted action that crippled the company. I have no doubt that I will get a full 401k match this year. Now next year is a different story...