In the case of the Second World War, the U.S. government took similar measures in increasing its control over the economy. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor provided the spark needed to begin conversion to a wartime economy. With this attack, Washington felt that a greater bureaucracy was needed to help with mobilization. The government raised taxes which paid for half of the war's costs and borrowed money in the form of war bonds to cover the rest of the bill. “Commercial institutions like banks also bought billions of dollars of bonds and other treasury paper, holding more than $24 billion at the war’s end." The creation of a handful of agencies helped funnel resources towards the war effort. One prominent agency was the War Production Board (WPB), which “awarded defense contracts, allocated scarce resources – such as rubber, copper, and oil – for military uses, and persuaded businesses to convert to military production."