What was going on when I was born?

Because of an editing error, a Beirut dispatch in some copies Saturday incorrectly characterized an accusation by the Shiite Moslem leader Nabih Berri. Mr. Berri's statement that the Gemayel Government had to accept responsibility for ''the massacre of the southern suburbs'' was apparently a reference to the shelling of Shiite neighborhoods by the Lebanese Army early this month.

United States economic assistance programs in Central America suffer from extensive mismanagement and corruption, according to State Department audits and a Congressional study. At a time when the Reagan Administration has proposed major increases in economic aid to the region, these reports show, many of the institutions responsible for distributing American assistance have had difficulty handling the present level of financing, Abuses cited in the reports included the illegal diversion of funds for private gain, fraudulent accounting procedures and spending that never reached the people it was intended to help. Millions of Dollars Involved There are no exact figures for the amount of money wasted or misused, but both Administration officials and Congressional investigators estimated that the total runs into millions of dollars annually. Most of the criticism of the aid programs was made in State Department audits that have not been publicized and in a classified report by the General Accounting Office that has been described to members of Congress but not submitted in written form. Several State Department audits reporting on similar problems have been the subject of news reports in the last several weeks.

The sudden return of customers to new-car showrooms has brought joy to the automobile companies, the dealers and the thousands of suppliers for the industry, which is climbing out of a long recession. But it has also brought back an old problem: a shortage of parts, ranging from computer chips to V-8 engines and aluminum wheels. The problem can slow and sometimes stop the assembly of hot-selling cars. This is a cyclical industry that has often wrestled with supply problems, either when cars sell faster or slower than expected. This time the problems are complicated by new production and inventory systems and by a supplier industry emaciated by the recession. Also, a demand for quality is causing manufacturers to return parts they might have accepted before.

The Economy The United States may soon join the list of debtor nations for the first time since it became a developed industrial country. The reason is that foreign investments in the United States are growing more rapidly than American investments abroad. (Page A1.)

It had seemed like a quiet Friday night. No patients had arrived for more than an hour, and the trauma team at the Kings County Hospital Center was sitting around a cluttered desk, talking about patients. At 7:35 P.M., a loudspeaker announced that a victim of a cardiac arrest would arrive in five minutes. At the same time, a patient who had broken his neck in a fall stopped breathing; an air pocket inside his chest was collapsing his lungs. The team worked quickly. Dr. Paul Druck started pumping oxygen into the lungs. Dr. Beverly Friedlander cut two tubes into either side of the chest to release the air. Dr. Robert Moglia inserted an intravenous line into the right arm to restore lost blood. The team was keeping another patient alive.

Late this year, or perhaps next year, the United States could find itself in the company of many developing countries in a curious respect: The United States may become a debtor nation for the first time since it was a developing country itself, before World War I. Foreigners have been lending and investing more money in the United States than Americans have been lending and investing abroad. As a result, for the first time foreign holdings in this country may soon outweigh Americans' holdings abroad. Some economists and Reagan Administration officials are gratified by this development. They say the willingness of foreigners to lend and invest in this country is testimony to the promise of the American economy. Flow of Foreign Investment But it is a worrisome development to others, among them the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Paul A. Volcker.

Israeli planes bombed what were described as Palestinian guerrilla bases in the Syrian- and Druse-controlled hills around Beirut. The air attacks coincided with the eruption of major battles around the mountaintop village of Suk al Gharb, just east of Beirut, where units of the Lebanese Army loyal to President Amin Gemayel are defending the approaches to the presidential palace in Baabda. Syrian-backed Druse and Shiite militiamen appeared to be poised to try to push Mr. Gemayel out of his official residence. (Page A1, Column 6.) Lebanon's army is preparing for what many in Lebanon say they think will be the decisive battle between the Lebanese Government and Moslem militias opposing it. Many Lebanese leaders say critical battles will be fought for two towns, Suk al Gharb, a mountain settlement in a commanding military position above Beirut, and Baabda, where the presidential palace is situated. (A1:5.)

The new headquarters of the Union Carbide Corporation here is in 674 acres of woods, and it sits amid the trees looking less like a building than a sprawling metallic beast. It is a creature that is nearly a quarter of a mile long, sits on hundreds of legs, has 16 arms and swallows automobiles through a six- lane tongue. Designed by Kevin Roche of John Dinkeloo & Associates, this $190 million building is one of the largest and most ambitious suburban office structures ever built. It is also one of the most carefully planned - the architects interviewed hundreds of Union Carbide employees before the building was designed; the company offered help in relocating roughly 1,250 households from near Union Carbide's former headquarters in New York City; and then, to ease the trauma of the move, the 3,000 headquarters employees were relocated to Danbury in stages. The last group moved up from New York several months ago, and by now the huge building has been operating at full capacity long enough to make possible some evaluation of its success.

The Lebanese Army is girding for what many here think will be its decisive test of strength against Druse and Moslem militias opposed to President Amin Gemayel. Many Lebanese leaders in both the Government and the Moslem opposition agree that the critical battles will be for two towns: Suk al Gharb, a mountain settlement three miles east of here, situated in a commanding military position above Beirut, and Baabda, the site of the Presidential Palace. To defend these areas, officials at the Defense Ministry here said today, the Lebanese Army has moved in new units from what is left of its forces after defeats in West Beirut earlier this month and in fighting in the mountains last week. Controlling the Ridge Suk al Gharb has been the site of major military contests since September, when fighting first broke out in the Shuf Mountains after Israeli troops withdrew from the area to southern Lebanon.

It happened in steel, it happened in copper and now it is starting to happen in basic petrochemicals. A once-thriving domestic industry reaches maturity while young. Then upstart producers in developing countries, which often have lower costs for raw materials and labor, build spanking new plants. This floods the world with excess capacity and forces many manufacturers in the developed countries to shutter their higher-cost operations.

On the eve of Iowa's precinct caucuses, the Democratic Presidential candidates wrapped up their campaigning in the state today to await the first judgment of voters in 1984. The closing hours were marked by more sharp attacks on former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, who is leading in the public opinion polls, by some of his opponents. Mr. Mondale, who was campaigning in Florida today before returning here Monday afternoon, is expected to win the caucuses handily. The main goal of his challengers is to finish behind him in such a way as not to be written off before the nation's first Presidential primary in New Hampshire Feb. 28.

In the right light, an eagle seems ready to fly off the cover of National Geographic's March issue, now being mailed to 10.5 million subscribers. And this spring, birthday salutations and images of ships and goldfish, among other things, will appear to float from a new line of Hallmark greeting cards. These are two of the newest uses of holography, the laser-based technology for creating graphics and images that appear to be three-dimensional. After years of unfulfilled promises, a new method of embossing now seems likely to broaden the appeal of holographic images for use in advertising, publishing and printing.