The year may be new, but the news relating to automakers is not.  Year-end figures will disappoint just about everyone as the four leading companies saw across-the-board declines in sales figures.  There were perhaps just two silver linings. No fair jumping ahead, of course - vegetables before dessert and all that.  Kendra Marr reports, "For the year, GM's sales totaled 2.95 million, down 23 percent from 2007.  Toyota's annual sales dropped 16 percent to 2.22 million.  Ford's sales eroded 20 percent ...