Derek,
i have not seen i recently, but (if my memory serves me well) i have seen it at least twice in previous beta(s). (From memory:) it happened for me when my treasury was exactly zero. I could move the production wheel slider, but this had no influence on changing the actual production/research/wealth values. I can't remember if the wheel itself was dimmed or not.
My conclusion then was that the update of the actual values was inhibited by the condition (treasury <= 0) while the disabling of the production wheel (user) interface was inhibited by the condition (treasure < 0), making the function of the production wheel (at treasury == 0) null and void. Because in the turn thereafter i would regain functional control if the treasure became positive or the production wheel would go to its locked state (at 100% wealth) if the treasure became negative.
I had actually forgotten that i ran into this until i read this post. It is also quite possible that the observed behaviour by me and the problem as posted here are completely different, but i thought to mention it anyway in case this would help you guys out.
