shelter isn't just a cherry picked item. It's by an far the largest spending category, that and healthcare. I couldn't care less about all the other categories, personally.
The BLS agrees. That's why "shelter" is weighted 35.6% in the CPI basket, by far the biggest item.
> I couldn't care less about all the other categories, personally.
If we're going by what people "care" about (whatever that means), the basket would probably be like 70% gas prices, 20% grocery prices, and 10% for everything else. Empirically speaking, those two are far more salient politically than housing.
Rent is a bigger consideration for most people i know, but most people i know take public transit.
Also keep in mind: people's rents don't suddenly triple in the span of a month when the president starts another illegal war... The shock value of gas, uh, shocks makes it easier to talk about than the slow relentless squeezing of the working class via rent increases that outpace inflation and wages
Electricity is even worse.
Petroleum also impacts industrial goods prices, flight costs, etc. It's more than just a talking point for drivers.
If you want to understand something else, use the measures and data that are focused on that something else. Right tool for the job and all that.
Careful.
Much of the western world has healthcare that is free at the point of use and paid for by taxation; one cannot extrapolate consumer inflationary healthcare costs in quite the manner the USA does.