Charlie Munger "Gold is a great thing to sew onto your garments if your a Jewish family in Vienna in 1939 but civilized people don't buy gold"

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000088395#eyJ2aWQiOiIzMDAwMDg4Mzk1IiwiZW5jVmlkIjoieU10VDJBbWtabDRocG4rRVRNSHRLQT09IiwidlRhYiI6ImNvbW1lbnRzIiwidlBhZ2UiOjEsImdOYXYiOlsiwqBMYXRlc3QgVmlkZW8iXSwiZ1NlY3QiOiJBTEwiLCJnUGFnZSI6IjEiLCJzeW0iOiIiLCJzZWFyY2giOiIifQ==

The above is a video of Becky Quick's interview with Charlie Munger. Approximately 9 minutes and 15 seconds into the video Munger says the following "Gold is a great thing to sew onto your garments if your a Jewish family in Vienna in 1939 but civilized people don't buy gold".

Bullish or bearish on gold, one has to scratch their head and wonder what prompts Mr. Munger to use this reference to 1939 Viennese Jews. We can all go back and forth ad infinitum about the merits of investing in various asset classes, but we should be able to do so in a far more civilized way than Mr Munger chose to in this interview.

Did Mr. Munger intend to come off as anti-semitic in his comments? He will be the only one who ever truly knows the answer to that question. Nonetheless, such comments cannot be taken lightly. Particularly at this time of financial instability in Europe, where socialist parties are gaining increasing popularity and power, it would be historically ignorant to flippantly sweep such comments under the rug. How Berkshire has yet to apologize for such commentary is far beyond me, but I sincerely hope that viewers of this blog do their part to make sure others are aware that these comments were made. Warren Buffet is not simply an investor, he's an American icon. He has been one of America's biggest cheerleaders and has become adored  (deservedly so in my opinion) by many. Charlie Munger's words were not his, but as the head of his organization, Buffet has a moral obligation to come out and denounce the comments his right hand man made in this interview.