First time I've heard of it. I interpret it as meaning: yes, things may seem to be fine, but that's only for now. The things we need to sustain that fineness are no longer there.
if you do a search on facebook (i typed in "hamster dead wheel" in the facebook search box), you get a bunch of pages and groups based on this saying. none of them have go at length at explaining what it actually means though...
I'm going to guess that it means something seems to be just fine (the wheel is moving) but in the inside, something is horribly worng (the dead hamster).
It's an insult to someone. Basically, it means they do stuff without thinking through their actions. I've also heard it in the context where someone is stuck in a rut and they just live day to day without changing anything. Essentially, they're on auto-pilot.
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