Buying Text Links Good or Bad?

Are paid text links good or bad?

It depends on who you ask? Ask [tag]Google[/tag] and it’s bad. Ask a “[tag]white hat[/tag]” [tag]SEO[/tag] and your answer will vary. I watched a youtube video of [tag]Shoemoney[/tag] taking [tag]Rand[/tag] of [tag]SEOMOZ[/tag] to task over his stance on text links. Basically, he “outed” a couple of sites using text links to increase their rankings, but at the same time he also advises his clients to use text links. Strange? Get the whole story here.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOBcXEja_dM[/youtube]

Bottom line for me, Google doesn’t like text links as a way to gain [tag]SERP ranking[/tag], but they are fighting a losing battle. You can always take your chances… or not.