The word “turboparalysis” was coined by American author Michael Lind, who wrote “The Age of Turboparalysis” (Salon, December 27, 2011) and “The Age of Turboparalysis: Why we haven’t had a revolution” (The Spectator, December 15, 2012).
 
Lind defined his newly proposed neologism in Salon:
 
“I would propose ‘turboparalysis’ for the combination of vigorous and dramatic motion with the absence of steady movement in any particular direction.  At the level of the nation-state and the world as a whole, wheels are spinning furiously and engines are being gunned, to no effect.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Michael Lind
Michael Lind (born April 23, 1962 in Austin, Texas) is an American writer. Currently Lind is Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., Editor of New American Contract and its blog Value Added, and a columnist for Salon magazine. Lind was a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School and has taught at Johns Hopkins and Virginia Tech. He has been an editor or staff writer at The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The New Republic and The National Interest. Lind has published a number of books on U.S. history, political economy, foreign policy and politics as well as fiction, poetry and children’s literature.
 
Salon
TUESDAY, DEC 27, 2011 06:00 AM CST
The age of turboparalysis
The world faces years of ineffective rebellion and enduring recession
BY MICHAEL LIND
If a neologism could capture the national and global politics of our time, in the way that “stagflation” captured the combination of stagnation and inflation in the economy of the 1970s, I would propose “turboparalysis” for the combination of vigorous and dramatic motion with the absence of steady movement in any particular direction.  At the level of the nation-state and the world as a whole, wheels are spinning furiously and engines are being gunned, to no effect.
 
The Spectator
The age of turboparalysis
Why we haven’t had a revolution
Michael Lind 15 December 2012
More than half a decade has passed since the recession that triggered the financial panic and the Great Recession, but the condition of the world continues to be summed up by what I’ve called ‘turboparalysis’ — a prolonged condition of furious motion without movement in any particular direction, a situation in which the engine roars and the wheels spin but the vehicle refuses to move.
 
The Divisible Hand
December 19, 2012
Turboparalysis?
Michael Lind at The Spectator writes (http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8789631/the-age-of-turboparalysis/) about “turboparalysis” amongst Western economies: we try to move forward post-recession, but are going nowhere.
 
I’m not going to delve into this topic very much. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s recession jargon that has been repeated often lately. Articles upon articles discuss this topic in almost every magazine and journal imaginable.
   
The Spectator
‘Turboparalysis’ Revisited
David Blackburn 20 December 2012 18:33
The word ‘turboparalysis’, coined by Michael Lind (who has a brilliant piece on the subject in the Spectator Christmas double issue), is paradoxical, even illogical. And yet it is clear, perfect for our times. Lind defines his term as:
 
‘a prolonged condition of furious motion without movement in any particular direction, a situation in which the engine roars and the wheels spin but the vehicle refuses to move.’

Turboparalysis is a new word; but its sense is familiar. We are often warned that we ‘risk repeating the mistakes of the 1930s’.
   
Zero Hedge
Revolution Vs “Turboparalysis” - The Real New Normal
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/07/2013 12:28 -0500
Excerpted from Michael Lind, originally posted at The Spectator.
The age of turboparalysis Why we haven’t had a revolution