European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said last week that she has "grave suspicions" about Google's increasing dominance of the Internet and online advertising in EU markets.

Google has a 91.5% share of search in Europe.

New EU legislation in the works that will demand "fairer" commercial practices in dealing with smaller companies, along with a flat-rate sales tax, is aimed squarely at Google and other US tech giants.

Why do Americans resent Europeans picking on Google? (We do, you know.)

Consider the fundamental differences between American and European attitudes that the Pew Research Center found in 2016:

• 57% of Americans but only 37% of Europeans disagreed that "success in life is largely determined by events outside our control."
• 73% of Americans but only 35% of Europeans agreed that "it is very important to work hard to get ahead in life."
• 58% of Americans vs. 36% of Europeans believe that "freedom to pursue goals without state interference" is more important than "the state ensuring nobody is in need."

There will be no reconciling of those differences anytime soon, I'm afraid.