sorry guys I was away for awhile... to answer the questions... the minimum post is now $5 at PPP.
and at $5 there are a lot of people willing to post. A lot more at $8-10+ though
Right now there are less ops than usual so getting a $5 post running will grab a TON of posters very quickly. (they were talking about it on the PPP forum).
You can set guidelines (such as PR, niche, required anchor text, pictures, etc) but I only ask for one anchor text personally and allow the poster to go with whatever fits their blog best beyond that. I picked up quite a few good text links that way.
also, I don't think PayPerPost has actually taken a hit from the FTC like Jason mentioned. They have taken a very proactive approach though and require that posters use some sort of disclosure policy on their blog.