Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a similar qualm, but this summarizes it better: "The story of the tulip bubble boils down to a story of fools and greed, Goldgar says. And that’s why it sticks with us." There's something about reducing this to just greed. What I personally want, is a story that can contextualize that greed better, explore it more, and not just end with "that's greed for you" (paraphrasing).
Exactly. It's a complete mischaracterization to call every stock market boom and bust cycle a result of "greed," and yet people refuse to stop doing so. I guess it creates a sense of moral outrage, and makes readers feel righteously justified.
I'm not saying Goldgar sees the tulip bubble that way, or that it's a historically accurate narrative, but it's miles better than saying it was caused by "fools and greed", which is similar to saying that something was caused by evil. I guess my principal point is that stupidity, greed and evil are fundamentally socioeconomic symptoms, in that they are not explanations of themselves.