RE: Are 401(k)'s worth it?

It's called a "forced retirement" and in the long run, it works. Ahem, every other year that you didn't mention in your post.

Can you make money shorting the market? Of course! Does everyone have time to actively pay attention to which areas of the market to short at what point in time? No.

That's why people (middle class) invest the way that they do. It makes sense based on ROI and amount of effort, and knowledge, required to enter the space.