Washout Period - The reason for the washout period is four-fold. The washout period insures that drug is completely washed out of the system before initiation of placebo in the arm that received aliskiren first. This will allow the study to observe a placebo effect on blood pressure in the "aliskiren first" arm, in the event that there is one. It would also insure that that sufficient time has passed between SD1 and SD 2 to see the effect of placebo on hsCRP in the "aliskerin first" arm. From a safety standpoint, it insures that subjects have more than 8 weeks to recover their blood counts between study days, as a significant amount of blood is drawn on each study day. Fourth, as there is a menstrual variation in Pai-1 levels, it insures that pre-menopausal women participating in the study will be the same phase of their cycle on SD1 and SD2.