this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt susie: good evening everyone. sales of new homes fell to an all-time record low in july. tom, you d have to look back to 1968 to see home sales this low. they plunged 12% last month. tom: and susie, today s news comes on top of yesterday s disappointing report of a big drop in existing home sales. things are so gloomy that president obama took time out of his vacation to hold a conference call with his economic team, focusing on the deteriorating housing market. susie: home prices continue to fall as well. the median price of a new home last month was $204,000, almost 5% lower than a year ago, according to the commerce department. now, prices on existing homes? about $183,000, slightly higher than last summer. lower prices haven t been enough to turn browsers into buyers, and economist dean baker says there s a reason why they re waiting. people are a