While I love Dugh's answer, here is the less funny answer. There is a bit of research on people purchasing utilitarian products during times of crisis, tp, cleaning products and alike. It is all about the illusion of control, it gives a degree of comfort knowing they have done “something”. And you can see your purchases piled up around the house. You might not be able to see your TV anymore but you have plenty of tp.
So my wise WQ is actually correct, when the world is going to be crap, people buy tp