Animal Spirits

I read a book for a book club yesterday called "Animal Spirits." Written by a Nobel Prize winner in economics, it was unimpressive. In the introduction it compared the unreasonable behaviors in economies (the "animal spirits") to undisciplined behavior of children, demanding the firm hand of the parent. The parent here is the government. The blind arrogance of these academics is hard to understand. It's like Creationists who are going to hold their opinion until a new gospel is found; they simply will not take seriously any contrary evidence around them, like pathological denial. The entire nation is screaming about the arrogance of university elites and this guy writes a book whose core is that the average citizen is an unruly child who needs a good government spanking.
There are a lot of interesting, if superficial, observations in this book but essentially these evil emotions, influenced by genetics and poor education, draw the fire that I think, in straw man fashion, should be reserved for two other points. First, if ignorance and irrationality are big contributors to economic misfortune, why not focus on education as the cure? Is the problem too specific than the "government should do it" solution allows? Or has education failed for more basic, ugly reasons than only force can override? Secondly, how come the leaders are immune to the same animal spirits?
Out here in the world, we know they aren't.