The Mona Lisa Curse

Robert Hughes documentary really made me think about art today,  in my life time it has always been this way, a commodity, but after watching his take on the art world and his strong opinions of the business of art really made me question what i knew or thought i knew.  one of the quotes from his documentary that was memorable was that art is the biggest unregulated market in the world apart from drugs!  As i had questioned in my previous post, who decides what is art, Hughes postulates that auction houses are the new arbiters of taste,  if this is true then i find this disappointing for use of a better word.  i know there was always a lot of controversy about Andy Warhol's work, in the same way as Damien Hirst's work today i suppose, should it be worth so much, is it art, personally i would say yes but does that put me in the same category as people who visit the mona lisa only to say they saw it or the dealers who only see pieces of art as a commodity to sell and buy for a profit.  has by giving work this enormous price tag devalued it?