Yeah. The only justification for HTM accounting is an expectation that depositors will be irrationally "sticky", i.e. that when interest rates increase they won

Yeah. The only justification for HTM accounting is an expectation that depositors will be irrationally "sticky", i.e. that when interest rates increase they won't move their money to a bank (or Treasury bill, etc.) offering a correspondingly increased return. It's a real economic loss no matter what; the HTM accounting just assumes that the depositors' irrational behavior will allow the bank to earn its way out of it. For the SVB it clearly didn't.