What was going on when I was born?

Top executives who receive stock options from their companies will find the new tax code treats these options quite handsomely. Moreover, employees who do not normally receive stock options may find it easier to win them as part of their compensation packages as a result of the new tax bill, benefit specialists predict. ''Because the options will be a much better deal for employees, there may be some tendency on the part of companies to spread them a little further down,'' said David N. Swinford, a principal at Sibson & Company, a management consulting firm, based in Princeton, N.J., that specializes in employee compensation. ''If a company believes that the stock market will boom in the 1980's, or if it is a threshold company or an undervalued company that believes its stock will take off, it may see the stock option as a way to attract and retain middle management people and superior technical and professional people.

A Senate subcommittee has sharply criticized the Labor Department's five-year investigation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund. The subcommittee report said that officials had wasted a ''historic opportunity'' to reform the fund and rid the union of the influence of organized crime. Accusing the department of poor management, incompetence and bureaucratic infighting in its investigation, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a 190-page report that the much heralded inquiry had been a failure. The report, which is to be released tomorrow, said that the Labor Department had not pursued criminal leads and had prevented its investigators from conducting a thorough inquiry into the pension fund, which has been described for years by law-enforcement officials as a lending institution for organized crime figures.

THE soybean has been the ''meat of the Orient'' for more than 4,000 years. Considering its nutritional merits and extraordinary versatility as a food, the growing list of potential health benefits associated with its consumption and the cost of its competition, it could become an important factor in the American diet as well. Currently more than half the soybeans grown in this country are exported and most of what we keep is fed to animals or extracted for oil. Less than 3 percent goes into food products made from the whole bean. However, the market is slowly expanding and several major food companies are ready to hop on the bandwagon should one or more soy products (such as tofu, the soybean curd) show signs of catching on big. The Push for Soy Protein. The soybean is one of the best sources of vegetable protein. Forty percent of the bean's dry weight, and 11 percent after cooking, comes from protein. By comparison, a poached egg is 13 percent protein, American cheese is 23 percent protein and a hamburger is 22 percent protein. One cup of cooked soybeans provides a third of the daily amount of protein recommended for the average adult male.

Transport Minister Jean-Luc Pepin announced early this morning that full air traffic service would be restored between the United States and Canada at 8 A.M. eastern daylight time today. The announcement, coupled with an earlier statement that the crucial air traffic control center in Gander, Newfoundland, would resume normal trans-Atlantic aircraft guidance operations at 6:30 A.M. today, appeared to indicate the end of two days of transportation disruptions affecting thousands of travelers on both sides of the Atlantic. The Government also announced that a joint fact-finding group would be formed with the controllers' union to study the aircraft safety situation in the United States. Air traffic controllers had said they based their refusal to handle flights to and from the United States on safety considerations.

ABC and Westinghouse intend to announce a plan today to create a 24-hour news network for cable television fashioned after the allnews approach used by many radio stations. The project, scheduled to begin in the spring of 1982, would unite the editorial and financial resources of two of the nation's largest broadcasting entities. Until now, the area of news programming for cable has been left solely to Ted Turner's Atlanta-based Cable News Network. The announcement comes as the Federal Government is showing an increasing willingness to permit the three major television networks - ABC, NBC and CBS - and other large broadcasting companies to compete aggressively in new communications technologies.

Business goes on as usual at John Muir & Company. Orders are being taken by brokers, and the trading desk continues to function. But, to a large extent, the excitement is over. The heady rush of underwritings that made a name for this controversial small firm has halted. And the burgeoning retail sales network, in offices only months old, is up for sale. In a move that suprised Wall Street, John Muir announced Monday that it was withdrawing from retail brokerage, a action that severely cuts the scope of its business. This decision could mark the end of a rocky five-year climb for Raymond L. Dirks, 47, the general partner who transformed this once-languishing house into one of the most visible firms on the Street. ''One of the major reasons I came here was for the creativity,'' said one dejected Muir employee yesterday. ''If you were an entrepreneur and you had the ability, it was a place where you could make a lot of money.''

Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., asserting that the Reagan Administration's military buildup would encourage Soviet moderation, said today that the United States sought fair agreements with Moscow that recognized legitimate interests on both sides. In the Administration's most extensive discussion to date of its relations with the Soviet Union, Mr. Haig went be- Excerpts from Haig speech, page A4. yond the attacks on Soviet behavior that had marked his earlier speeches with an offer for cooperation if Moscow showed ''restraint and reciprocity.'' ''What in turn do we offer the Sovi@ets?'' he said. ''We offer a reduction in the tensions that are so costly to both our societies. We offer diplomatic alternatives to the pursuit of violent change. We offer fair and balanced agreements on arms control. And we offer the possibility of Western trade and technology.

''In sum, American strategy toward the Soviet Union is proceeding on two fronts simultaneously.

The United States, the European Common Market and Japan have worked out a special early-warning arrangement to tackle trade and investment issues before they erupt into major international disputes, a high-ranking Administration official said today. Leaders of the three parties agreed that their trade representatives would meet as trouble-shooters - for the first time - and try to defuse problems. Although temporary accords now govern trade in autos and steel, those issues could flare up again. And trade officials cited trade in synthetic fibers, data processing equipment and insurance services as areas of potential trouble that the three-way talks might deal with.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Lorna J. Sass's latest historical cookbook, ''Christmas Feasts,'' will be co-published by Irena Chalmers Cookbooks and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in September. By LORNA J. SASS SOY foods have come west and, apparently, are here to stay. No longer restricted exclusively to the world of woks and cleavers, soybeans in America are now patted into soyburgers, and tofu (soybean curd) is pureed into soy mayonnaise, baked into ''cheesecake'' and fried as ''cutlets,'' while soy milk emerges from the blender as a frothy carob shake or from the freezer as cantaloupe ''ice cream.'' Because soy foods are an inexpensive source of protein, low in fat and completely cholesterol-free, they have been attracting more and more attention among the growing number of weight-conscious, healthconscious and dollar-conscious Americans. Until recently, soy Recipes are on page C6 sauce was the only soy product familiar to most Americans. Although soy sauce and the fermented seasoning paste miso contain approximately 14 percent and 7 percent sodium chloride (salt) respectively, tofu contains one-tenth the sodium found in an equivalent weight of cooked beef and tempeh has only minute traces.

Several building-code violations existed at Stouffer's Inn last December when a fire took 26 lives there, the Westchester County District Attorney said today, but he added that there was no evidence that the violations had been produced by any criminal act. ''Nor is there sufficient evidence to establish that any person deliberately and knowingly violated the state building code,'' the District Attorney, Carl A. Vergari, said at a news conference in his office at the County Courthouse. Mr. Vergari made public a report prepared for Westchester County by Lothrop Associates, a White Plains architectural firm. The report found gaps in fire-retarding walls, as well as walls and doors made of unrated combustible materials and hallways that were longer and narrower than allowed by the State Building Construction Code.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Bryan Miller is a freelance writer. By BRYAN MILLER SCIENTISTS hail it as the most revolutionary development in food packaging since the tin can. Food industry leaders maintain it does a far better job of preserving fresh products, while at the same time saving energy, space and natural resources. So why aren't we all eating from retort pouches yet?