Why doesn`t Google punish paid links?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Girish Kapoor: One of my competitor is coming on 1st page in Google SERP. He take lots of paid Backlinks for own website. But Google did not hit his website Why.?
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  Ryan Cramer: Perhaps Google gave up on trying to combat all the link building scams and the rumor is true - links are dead.
  What else is your competitor doing that would get them to the 1st page?
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  Jackson Ertel: Google are slowly penalizing poor quality links. Eventually your competitors likely to get hit, however how long before they are is the question.
  
  Link authority is still real. Quality Relevant links still pass authority, spammy links can have a positive effect short term, but will hurt sooner or later.
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  Girish Kapoor: +Jackson Ertel if paid links are relevant then it is good for our website or not according to Google guidelines....
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  Jackson Ertel: Yes and no. Influxes of links are obvious, even if it doesn't hurt you instantly. All it takes is for Google to realize one of your links is spammy, happened at a similar time to an increase in links, and before you know it you will get slammed with penalties.
  
  It takes more money and effort to fix a penalty than building authorities genuine links
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  Jackson Ertel: Do not buy links. It may look attractive but will come back and bite you
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  Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:54:04 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/why_doesnt_google_punish_paid_links +Girish Kapoor
  
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