[neoterics]

It is not a question of morality, it's a question of risk tolerance.

Most SEOs will advise you to err on the side of caution, but most SEOs work with large businesses that already have a lot of link equity and brand dollars thus making the point kind of moot.

People say create good content, but good luck creating the best content in the world and thinking that Google will feel obliged to rank you.

The reality is that with any venture you have to take risks, specially in the beginning, and if done smartly, buying links is a pretty balanced risk-reward scenario to kick start your property.

Lastly, in most cases a few well placed links are all you need. Once you start gaining traction you'll automatically get the motivation to create more/better content and do other forms of link building which are safer but much more time consuming.