[btilly]

What about people that can't afford a pay cut financially?

Isn't it obvious? If you can't afford the pay cut, don't try to become a manager.

Stop and think about it from the employer's position. If your star programmer becomes a manager, the only guarantee is that you've lost a good programmer. The odds are low that you'll get a good manager out of the deal. So why should they pay more for less value?

Remember. Smart companies don't hand out money out of some notion of what is fair. They pay money because that is the cost of the value those employees are expected to provide. (Note that companies avoid paying the actual value provided, because doing so is a recipe for going bankrupt.) If the deal that they are willing to offer you does not meet your needs, you are free to find a deal that is more to your taste.