I largely agree with this post and share the author's frustrations. But there's a part of me that still likes the fact that a large portion of the web equates an email address to an identity. If you choose not to use your true identity, it's as easy as creating a new email address. Eventually someone will solve the identity problem without sacrificing anonymity for those who need or want it.
So I'm the author of the OP. To be clear, I'm not advocating for Google or anyone else to force people to have only a single account. If people want to use multiple accounts and have multiple identities for anonymity or to separate "work" and "personal" Internet personas, then they should be free to do so. However I believe the option should exist for someone to unify their accounts through a single identity if they so choose.
To Google you're a PGO - Profit Generating Organism. The more emails the more chance for profit.