Almost all menu items grayed out

I'm a long time Photoshop user but decided to give Elements a try. I tried a few of my psd files and everything in the layers menu is grayed out.  Thinking it may be the photos, I downloaded one from the Adobe stock photo website and opened that. Same thing.

Can someone help me out here? How do I get layers? 

Also while we're at it, where are the selection tools, like the square, circle, pen, and all that? Do they not exist in Elements? 

Did they make Elements really frustrating so everyone will buy or stick with the more expensive Photoshop? 😉