Mining is not profitable in these days, if price of BTC reaches 1000 USD I think it becomes profitable again, but thats a big IF.
Nowadays, so many people says this. But, if that's true, how come so many miners are mining now and difficulty is still going up?
It's because they have no idea what they're talking about; just spitting out what they've heard from other people that seem knowledgeable. You're absolutely right, bitcoin mining is probably always going to be balanced so that it's on the line between being profitable and not. Even if the price goes up to $1K, more miners will come in and it'll get harder to mine blocks; you'll have to mine longer to get a block, making it balanced out again.
I'm pretty sure that cloud mining is synonymous with ponzi scam nowadays. I don't suppose asking you to stay away from them would do anything?