Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Markets Prove Naysayers Wrong (Final)

(Story updated to add Cramer's Lightning Round picks, comments on trading the banking sector and concluding comments on Apple derivative trades.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sometimes it isn't what has happened that drivers the markets, but rather what hasn't happened.

Those were Jim Cramer's sentiments as he told his "Mad Money" TV show viewers that perhaps its time to drop the cynicism about the market's recent rally and acknowledge everything that's actually gone right.

Cramer took viewers down memory lane, back to late summer and early fall of last year. Back then, the markets were a buzz with out of control government spending that sipped off the first-ever S&P downgrade of U.S. government debt.

The fear was that interest rates would skyrocket. But in reality, interest rates didn't rise, said Cramer, the moment of the downgrade was actually a good time to buy, not sell, U.S. bonds.

The markets were also worried about a European bond collapse last year, Cramer recalled. The key metric was the Italian bonds: Would they reach 7% and send the contingent into recession? In retrospect, no. Cramer said here again, those that bet against the naysayers make a boatload of money as the leadership of the European Central Bank changed and interest rates were slashed, offering relief to all.

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The worries of 2010 were aplenty, said Cramer, and also included worries over the fallout from the MF Global bankruptcy, the continued housing decline and a hard economic landing for China.

But time after time, things seems to work out better than expected, said Cramer. There wasn't a lot of fallout from MF Global, housing continued its gentle decline and China managed a soft landing.