First off, I think smart pricing is garbage. I've never been smart priced so it must not be true. Seriously though. AdSense will pay you what you deserve based off of the content you provide. Also, is it safe to say that it's ok to run a AdSense, Chitika, Amazon, Clickbank Combo on the same page? Let me know what you guys think.
Just because it has not happened to YOU does not mean it does not exist.. I've never had my house broken into, yet i'm pretty sure that home-burglaries exist.. Your super-ad-combo should be ok IF: None of the ads look like or can be confused with your Adsense units, and IF Chitika, Amazon & Clickbank dont have provisions that would prevent you from using them with adsense or each other (i dont think they do)... I would recommend throwing Kontera into your jambalaya of ads because based on my testing it outperformed everything on your list. You may not see the same results, but it's certainly worth testing/trying.
Google does not pay based on your contents. Google pays based on adwords advertisers' desires to advertise on your site. If lots of advertisers are competing for limited ad space in your site, than your payment goes up. It is all how adwords advertisers think about your site. If no adword advertisers are explicitly advertising on your site, google pulls from its own inventory and pays you a small amount. Money is there when adwords advertisers are actively seeking your site. It is all based on adwords because that is the revenue source for everybody - Google as well as the content sites.