Most PMs don't have the chops and just enjoy a job thats less grunt-worky. They usually don't have a choice. I seriously doubt anyone with real programming chops would be happy being an overseer rather than an architect.

I've worked with several PMs who had technical chops.

Note that not everyone who has the chops necessarily love programming. Also, as others pointed out, in many companies a PM earns more than any technical person.

As a curiosity:

Are you really stuck in meetings and infantile email disputes as long as it looks like from a devs POV? This is coming from personal observation of my work environment, not any sort of dig at you.

I've always assumed that a single PM is good, but as soon as you put two together, work grinds to a halt.

note: our PM's make about 30k more than the highest paid dev.

Even my hair feels different!

(from dev to PHB)