Lol, CPU mining is not sensible, use GPU. And why do you think that it would be easy to get free money? Bitcoin value is pretty high, so there are people running GPU farms & mining it. Competition is high.
I think currently mining is profitable, you can pay your hardware investments back maybe in 2-6 months.
you can pay your hardware investments back maybe in 2-6 months
Can you clarify the logistics of this? Do I borrow BTC, find a hardware vendor that accepts it as payment, then repay with what I've mined? Or do I find a lender that will give me USD and accept BTC in return? Or do I spend USD on hardware and put the resulting BTC towards my regular costs of living? I doubt my landlord/utility providers would accept rent/bill payments in BTC. I've seen the "trade" page on the wiki, and it only lists a few dozen merchants, generally dealing in web site services and luxury goods.
I think currently mining is profitable, you can pay your hardware investments back maybe in 2-6 months.