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> The government really shouldn’t be producing a single number and saying that’s “the” inflation rate.

It doesn't, it produces many different Consumer Price Indices, plus a variety of industry-specific Producer Price Indices, all are measures of inflation.

> If OPEC decided to stop producing oil altogether you bet there would be “inflation” caused by oil prices but that doesn’t mean the FED should be goaded into making changes to policy.

Why should not? Inflation is just change of price level. Price level is just ratio of circulating money to real production. If OPEC decided to stop producing oil, that would create massive negative shock to real production, so FED should restrict circulating money to maintain that ratio.

The government doesn't produce a single number. The BLS produces multiple numbers and you can use whichever one fits your situation best.

And then people frequently complain about these varieties—for example, that the BLS produces a "core" version that excludes food and energy even though there's also a version with that stuff included.

Same story with unemployment. Lots of people complain that U-3 doesn't capture some aspect of unemployment that they care about. Okay; that's why there are 5 other U-x measures...