Why tax the merely well-off as if they were wealthy?

Because you get more money if you hit the well-off as hard as you hit the wealthy. Bill Gates takes income when he wants it.

Also, I note that the referenced article doesn't mention the tax shelters that were available "then" that went away with Reagan.

There is one exception though - large estates. Almost none of Bill Gates wealth will be subject to the estate taxes. Same with Warren Buffet. Remember that the next time you hear that they think that the estate tax is a good idea.

"The federal government simply isn’t raising enough money to pay for its obligations, Medicare being the biggest."

... and this was BEFORE TARP, TALF, AIG, GM & Chrysler....

If I had written the article, the title would be "Why do we tax the wealthy as if they were well-off?".