Voters handed a stinging defeat to Japan's ruling party in weekend elections, rejecting a proposal to increase taxes and handicapping a fledgling government struggling to keep the world's second-largest economy from financial meltdown. "It's bad news for Kan and the party, and its really bad news for the nation because it means there isn't going to be resolute action on all the festering problems facing the government," said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University, Japan Campus. "And that's got global repercussions."