One has to hand it to the Moroun's. Their nose for business as is good as their public image is repulsive. What a deal and completely legal. It smacks of a share-cropper set up where the farmer never gets out of debt. From the Freep...

In 2005, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration and a Moroun family company negotiated the rescue of the Detroit Marine Terminals site, a 34-acre shipping dock on the Detroit River halfway between the Ambassador Bridge and Zug Island.

Moroun lent the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority $2.1 million to pay off the terminal's debts. In exchange, he received sweeping control of the facility, favorable interest rates on the loan, tax exemptions, a new revenue stream and a right to buy any riverfront property the Port Authority might hope to sell.

Over the years, the deal has turned into a lopsided win for Moroun as the loan balance has grown to nearly $2.2 million, despite $1.3 million in payments thus far. Now, the Port Authority is searching for a way out of a contract that could last up to 90 more years.

"The way this thing is structured, I don't know if I'll ever be able to pay off this debt," said John Loftus, the Port Authority's executive director who was hired in July 2014.