Hey there, I use to write for Bukisa a while back. It's good, legit, and does indeed make payouts. In fact, I believe now they lowered the payout level (It use to be like $50 or $100, but now it's $10). As well, they are usually better in $/views than AC. As well, Bukisa's pretty interesting, as they offer opportunities to post videos, notes, presentations, etc. -- in case you're getting burnt out from article writing. So, I can say that if you produce quality, copyscape-pass content -- then you can make some money with it
Its similar to Associated Content, and while I have not used them myself, I did hear some good things about them.
I am member of bukisa. Still I havnt earned a dollar so dont knw abt they pay or not. But its good place to submit your article. they give nofollow link but it index fast.
Google doesn't like traffic exchange programs. So I would avoid using them at any site that is monetized by Adsense.