We use long-term interest rate discounting simply to have a standard measure across all businesses. When we spend money on companies we intend to acquire, they won't earn our trust just because they have cash flows; they will only earn our trust based on the remaining net cash each year. Of course, if they spend wisely, even if you have to discount for a few more years, the growth of future cash flows should offset this; otherwise, they wouldn't invest wisely. The best businesses are those that give you more and more money each year without costing you anything or very little. We have some such companies. The second-best businesses also give you more and more money. This requires more capital, but your reinvestment return rate is at a very satisfying pace. The worst businesses are those that grow very rapidly, where you're forced—actually compelled—to grow just to stay in the game, reinvesting capital at very low returns. Sometimes people are unaware of this in these industries. But in terms of discounting and calculating intrinsic value, you need to focus on the expected cash flows and discount them back. In our example, we use the long-term government bond rate. This doesn't mean you pay the amount calculated as the present value, but it means you use it as a common benchmark—the long-term government bond rate. This implies that if someone reinvests all cash flows over the next 5 years, they should be able to achieve some very large numbers in the future. Because someday, a financial asset must return cash to you to justify the cash you put into it now.