What was going on when I was born?

President Reagan reiterated his campaign promises to take bold and immediate actions to remedy the nation's ''economic afflictions.'' The primary targets would be the excessive taxes and government, which he said were responsible for curbing industry, individual achievement and thrift, and which were hobbling the solution to the problem of ''the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history.'' The President also vowed to reduce Federal spending sharply and shift more government from Washington to the states. (Page A1.) Leading business and financial leaders generally applauded the tone of the Inaugural Address, although they noted the lack of a specific agenda and programs aimed at correcting the nation's economic problems. While the business community differed over the approach it would like the President to take, it was unanimous in advocating strong and quick actions. (D1.)

The staff of a Pennsylvania state regulatory agency proposed yesterday that the General Public Utilities Corporation receive only 18.5 percent of the rate increases it had requested as a result of the 1979 nuclear accident at its Three Mile Island power plant. The Pennsylvania Utility Commission's rate bureau recommended that G.P.U.'s Metropolitan Edison Company subsidiary, which owns 50 percent of the crippled plant near Harrisburg, Pa., be allowed a rate increase of $9.7 million, compared with a request for $76.5 million. The staff also recommended that the Pennsylvania Electric Company, another G.P.U. subsidiary and owner of 25 percent of the plant, be given a rate increase of $17 million, compared with a request for $67.4 million.

Saying his final farewells at Andrews Air Force Base yesterday, Jimmy Carter spotted Anita Schaefer, the wife of one of the hostages, and exuberantly embraced her. ''Tom is in the air,'' Mr. Carter said, speaking of her husband, Col. Thomas E. Schaefer of the Air Force, who was the senior military officer at the United States Embassy in Teheran. ''Really, truly, Mr. President,'' she whispered. ''Really, truly - at long last,'' he said, ''Tom is safe. I'll be with him tomorrow morning in Germany.'' ''Oh, thank God, Mr. President.'' Then they both cried. And they embraced again.

For a President who has promised Americans a new beginning, an era of national renewal at home and restored strength and stature abroad, the release of the American hostages in Iran was exquisitely timed. The extraordinary deadline diplomacy that put the 52 captured Americans into the air over Iran minutes after the howitzers thundered a new leader into office provided a graceful exit for Jimmy Carter, a hopeful prologue for Ronald Reagan and relief for a nation weary from 14 months of humiliation and seeming impotence. Almost unavoidably the human drama in Iran overshadowed an Inaugural Address that was less an inspirational call to national greatness than a plain-spoken charter of Mr. Reagan's conservative creed, less a sermon than a stump speech, less a rallying cry than a ringing denunciation of overgrown government and a practical pledge to get down to the business of trimming it at once. For all the new President's vaunted reputation as one of the nation's most polished political orators, his Inaugural Address offered surprisingly few rhetorical flourishes beyond the populist tribute to ordinary Americans that ''those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.''

As J.W. McSwiney, chairman and chief executive of the Mead Corporation, sat in the stands on Inauguration Day and listened to President Reagan's address, he was impressed. ''Without trying to be definitive, he gave you a sense of quality that was not there before,'' Mr. McSwiney said yesterday, turning to a friend. ''He convinced you that this group of people can do something more positive.'' Like Mr. McSwiney, other top business and financial leaders generally applauded the grand themes the President had sounded of less government and a new economic beginning by a heroic people.

Citicorp, moving against a strong upward trend, yesterday became the nation's first major bank holding company to report a sharp decline in fourth-quarter profits. It attributed the poor return to the ''unprecedented volatility'' of interest rates. Two other major banking companies - the BankAmerica Corporation and the Chase Manhattan Corporation -have yet to report but both are expected to make a favorable showing. Citicorp said its fourth-quarter operating earnings plummeted nearly 37.7 percent, to $96 million, from $154 million in the comparable period a year ago.

When Walter Light was promoted to chief executive officer of Northern Telecom Ltd. 16 months ago, he inherited a host of problems arising from the telecommunications equipment company's expansion of a subsidiary. ''I recognized that 1980 was going to be a tough year,'' he recalled recently. It became clear just how tough when Mr. Light announced late last month that the company, of which Bell Canada owns 55 percent, would report ''a substantial loss'' for 1980, based on $220 million (Canadian) worth of write-offs and provisions for such items as uncollectable receivables and plant closures. The Canadian dollar is worth about 84 cents in United States currency.

Thank you. Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion. And, yet, in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle. Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other. And I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our republic.

Ronald Wilson Reagan of California, promising ''an era of national renewal,'' became the 40th President of the United States today as 52 Americans held hostage in Iran were heading toward freedom. The hostages, whose 14 months of captivity had been a central focus of the Presidential contest last year, took off from Teheran in two Boeing 727 airplanes at 12:25 P.M., Eastern standard time, the very moment that Mr. Reagan was concluding his solemn Inaugural Address at the United States Capitol. The new President's speech, however, made no reference at all to the long-awaited release of the hostages, emphasizing instead the need to limit the powers of the Federal Government, and to bring an end to unemployment and inflation. 'Government Is the Problem' Promising to begin immediately to deal with ''an economic affliction of great proportions,'' Mr. Reagan declared: ''In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.'' And in keeping with this statement, the President issued orders for a hiring ''freeze'' as his first official act. (Page B6.)

The 52 Americans who were held hostage by Iran for 444 days were flown to freedom yesterday. Jimmy Carter, a few hours after giving up the Presidency, said that everyone ''was alive, was well and free.'' The flight ended the national ordeal that had frustrated Mr. Carter for most of his last 14 months in office, and it allowed Ronald Reagan to begin his term free of the burdens of the Iran crisis. The Americans were escorted out of Iran by Algerian diplomats, aboard an Algerian airliner, underscoring Algeria's role in achieving the accord that allowed the hostages to return home. Transferred to U.S. Custody The Algerian plane, carrying the former hostages, stopped first in Athens to refuel. It then landed in Algiers, where custody of the 52 Americans was formally transferred by the Algerians to the representative of the United States, former Deputy Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher. He had negotiated much of the agreement freeing them.

IN the last few years, more and more skiers, especially those with families, have found renting a condominium to be the most comfortable - and economical - way to spend a ski week. Many ski resort condominiums, both in the Northeast and the West, are located a short schuss from the lifts, and meals prepared in your own kitchen are likely to be less expensive, and can be savored at leisure, with your boots off. No need to fight lunch-time cafete@ria lines in a steamy base lodge or to drive to restaurants every night. Enjoying the comforts of home for a week in snow country takes a bit of advance planning and an apres-ski shopping trip or two, but it's worth the effort. Some condominium villages have a small grocery store on the grounds, or there may be a supermarket nearby to provide the ingredients for breakfasts, lunches and the sort of warm, hearty, unfussy dishes such as soups, stews or casseroles that satisfy appetites sharpened by a vigorous day on the slopes.

dotted vales of the northern Poconos. After 35 years, Highlights for Children has reinvented its cover. This change might not, on its face, seem to be all that dramatic. Nevertheless, Highlights for Children - which mails 1,250,000 magazines 11 months a year to children's homes and to schools, libraries, doctors' and dentists' offices - is not given to changing things all that often, and its readers have said they like it that way. Currently there are more than 20 other national magazines for preteen-age children in America -not including religious publications, special-interest and regional magazines, as well as offerings from Canada. They have more than nine million subscribers. As many as 30 million children read them in homes, schools and libraries, according to experts in the field, and eight new national children's publications have been launched since 1975.