In every finance class or my previous blog here , financial analysis starts with the risk-free rate. The risk-free rate is the return you expect when bearing few risks. When I took my finance class in college, the risk-free was the “easiest” number to get during valuation projects. I was taught that we generally use US 10-year government bonds as a long-term, risk-free rate. The action is based on two assumptions: The US central bank can print money anytime if it cannot fulfill its debt obligations. The US government is very unlikely to go into default. I asked my macroeconomic professor a very genuine but seemingly naive question in the class.” : So, the government can do that forever? It is like a perpetual motion machine.” My economic professor, who is a lovely Asian lady but makes you feel like she is the kind of person who cannot find a job after a bachelor, master, and Ph.D. and then became a professor, said very relaxedly, "Yeah, it is just like that." (...