We HAVE to sell 10 million cars, say what?

The New York Times has an online article today "New Vehicle Sales Reach a 2009 High". It caught my eye first because we just finished up May and declaring that sales reach a HIGH for the year seems a little hyperbolic and tells me we really are a bunch of short term thinkers. I am pretty sure I remember months in 2008 where vehicle sales were not all that bad, yet the year turned out to be a real downer for all the car manufacturers. Big business and Wall Street are only interested in "what have you done for me today?". To get out of this economic recession, I think more business leaders need to grasp the concept that real business success is a marathon not a sprint. I am pretty sure Warren Buffett understands that, but then he is 79, so I guess you could say he has been running the race a long time. Maybe he is like Forrest Gump and one day he just stopped and said "I'm kinda tired, I've been running a long time".

The second line of the article is what really got my attention though. "But demand is still below the levels that most automakers need to be profitable." I took introduction to accounting in college and am pretty sure I understand the concept of profit. The truth is you can make a profit selling ONE CAR! If you will read down to the third paragraph though, you will see that the folks at General Motors think you have to sell 10 million cars to make a profit. Well there you have it, we now know why they are bankrupt! They should have hired a CPA to work for them who understood how to calculate profit.