In other words, there truly is no plan big enough and no entity large enough to rescue banks from themselves. The European banks, unlike the American ones, are so huge and so intertwined with the fortunes of sovereign debt that anyone who even thinks there could be a solution that isn't catastrophic is regarded as a lightweight.

After all, the banks collectively are three times as large as the gross domestic product of Europe, compared with only about 70% for ours, and that may be understating the size of the European entities. Even if China, the United States and the IMF got involved, there wouldn't be enough money to bail them out.

Of course, they could be nationalized, but that would mean the backstop countries would all have their credit ratings downgraded, and those are meant to be sacrosanct.

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I have no doubt that the bearish commentators and analysts are smarter than I'll ever be. I have no doubt that they are right about the scale and size of the issue.

But I wonder if they understand the history of the continent. I wonder if they don't overstate the need for these countries to protect their AAA ratings, and if they should be more focused on the idea that these European countries are all about having peace in the end and not descending into the brutal wars that seem like they happened just yesterday.

In the end, they will sacrifice their AAA ratings and their standards of living and start over if they have to. So the idea that there is no solution other than to bring the world down is not going to hold water.

Of course, the rap is also that they have to bring down the world with them, that there is no way we won't have a worse recession than in 2008-09. And the understanding among bearish traders, I think, is that even the pain of the Depression will be exceeded this time.

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Again, I think that represents a keen misunderstanding of history. No, the problem can't be cordoned. But yes, any recession that brought down GM (GM), Merrill, Fannie and Freddie, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, Lehman and AIG (AIG) -- include Citigroup (C) if you want -- is one that has left little in its wake except some much stronger institutions. And there is another tier of banks, notably of the BB&T (BBT) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) variety, that stand ready to replace the current ones if they fail.

I understand the desire to bet against copper and aluminum off this imminent European collapse. I do not understand how they can't also be short oil. I do not understand how they think there can never be a way out of anything.

I also do not understand how they can't see that these countries experienced the rise of Hitler and Stalin, and you have to concede that they must have learned something about how economics can lead to social unrest and dictatorships and genocide, so a solution will have to leave the fabric intact -- even if the fabric is more polyester than cotton when we are through with this era.

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Just some thoughts on why these markets may be more resilient than people think. Not just because Honeywell (HON) has seen no slowdown and McDonald's (MCD) has seen an acceleration but because history says that Weimar inflation and German deflation breed Nazi Germany. So maybe, just maybe, it is worth sacrificing a triple-A rating to keep history from repeating itself.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long USB.

Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for his charitable trust.